China welcomed its first bulk import shipment of corn from Brazil on Jan 7, opening the Brazil-China corn transport channel.
The event is of great significance in strengthening China-Brazil agriculture cooperation and maintaining a safe and stable global agricultural supply chain.
A result of the mutually beneficial economic and trade exchange between the two countries, it kicked off a new chapter of China's international agriculture cooperation.
Departing from the port of Santos in Brazil, the bulk ship carried 68,000 metric tons of corn and arrived at the Mayong Port in South China's Guangdong Province. The corn will be sent to Chinese feed enterprises after quarantine inspection.
Guaranteeing smooth global corn supply chain
Located in South America, Brazil is the world's third-largest corn producer and the world's second-largest corn exporter. It has a corn export volume of over 40 million tons, accounting for about a quarter of the world's total.
In May 2022, the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China and the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Supply signed a protocol on plant quarantine inspection requirements of corn shipments from Brazil to China, which was intended to solve the technical problems of quarantine inspection.
In November of the same year, the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China updated the list of Brazilian corn exporters, initiating the implementation of Brazilian corn imports.
COFCO Corporation (COFCO) said that the company looks forward to strengthening China-Brazil agricultural cooperation and is willing to introduce high-quality Brazilian agricultural products to China to help promote Brazilian agricultural products while at the same time contributing to Chinese demand for agricultural products, which will lead to mutual benefit and a win-win situation.
As the Brazilian corn purchased by COFCO has arrived in China, the company will now participate in grain resource allocation. It will also continue to strengthen the layout of global resources and industrial systems, enhance its international competitiveness, and contribute to promoting a stable and smooth global agriculture supply chain.
Starting new chapter of China-foreign agricultural cooperation
China and Brazil are both developing countries and BRICS countries. The two countries have been expanding economic and trade cooperation.
China is Brazil's largest trading partner and Brazil is the first Latin American country whose trade with China exceeds $100 billion; the two countries' cooperation has become a model of South-South cooperation, and agricultural cooperation has been a key engine in promoting the rapid development of the bilateral trade.
As China's largest and the first international grain merchant with an entire industry chain, COFCO has highly valued Brazil and has invested more than $2.3 billion in the country, contributing to China-Brazil agricultural cooperation.
COFCO has been working on establishing stable grain corridors between major global agriculture production regions and emerging markets in Asia, and has been engaged in purchasing, storage, processing, transportation and trade of bulk agricultural products such as grains, oil and fat, sugar, cotton, meat and dairy products.
The company has already established a network linking main agricultural production and marketing regions like Southeast Asia, the Far East, North and South America, Australia and the Black Sea.
By 2022, COFCO's agricultural business reached 180 million tons and had evolved into an in-depth participant in building a global agricultural industrial chain and a promoter of a smooth global agricultural supply chain.
(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)
