Brazilian government guarantees minimum price for pigs

The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Mendes Ribeiro Filho, has assured that pigs will be sold against a minimum price of R$0.40/kg (US$0.20). The measure aims to ensure the flow of production from producing regions and cover the cost of production of the sector.

The announcement was made in the end of last week.

The quantity to be supported is 76,000 tons of live pigs, the equivalent of 50,000 pigs – and will cost the Brazilian government about R$30.4 million (US$15 million).

Ribeiro Filho said, "With this action, built after negotiations with the producing sector, we believe that the government did its part in full and within what was possible. The expectation is that the situation is eased and producers to cover production costs, since we are guaranteeing income for farmers in this time of difficulties."

This measure comes on top of other measures already announced by Mendes Ribeiro to alleviate the industry problems. A Special Credit Line is put in place for pig farmers to buy piglets at a price of R$3.60/kg (US$1.77/kg) as well as the extension of debt funding and investment.

For this plan, R$200 million (US$99 million) is available, with interest rates of 5.5% per year.