Brazil's soy industry and producers are facing a rise in freight road, since measures to combat the coronavirus, such as the closure of restaurants on roads, have led drivers to charge for trips, said the president of the sector association Abiove.
“The freight market is adjusting, as there are truck drivers who are not wanting to take a long route, the price of freight is rising. It has to sell out, the price really goes up, basically that's what's happening,” said André Nassar, in an interview with Reuters.
The industry and producer
He stated that some farmers have suffered increased costs to transport soybeans to warehouses by truck. However, while trading companies also face the problem of selling the soybeans already negotiated with the producers.
But the president of the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove) said that, despite the higher cost increase. However, reports from associated companies about the lack of trucks to take the product to the ports are rare.
"It's not that the truck became a problem, but what happened is that the freight went up," he said, without giving details about the increase in freight costs.
Restaurants and services
He said the government measure published this Friday, which establishes restaurants and other services. As well as being essential for truck drivers, it should help to dispose of Brazil's record soybean crop. Nassar also said that despite the challenges, Brazil will be able to export the volumes of soy demanded.
Among the essential services are those related to health care and intercity, interstate and international passenger transport, in addition to app transport. The decree also talks about the importance of guaranteeing the transport of “loads of any kind that may lead to a shortage of goods needed by the population”. The measure determines that traffic restrictions are based on technical grounds from Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency).
