The Brazilian Wheat Industry Association (ABITRIGO) released on Monday 23 a statement on the supply of wheat flour in the country. “Since 1990, ABITRIGO’s mission is to restructure and integrate the entire wheat production chain in Brazil, encouraging best practices and sharing knowledge. Since food is an essential activity, indispensable to meet the urgent needs of the community, the main focus of the mills at this time is to ensure the supply of the entire wheat chain – supermarkets, wholesalers, bakeries, pasta industries, cookies, industrial breads and cakes and other food service channels. We are prepared to produce wheat flour with complete food security, as we always have. This will allow all manufacturers in the wheat chain and its derivatives to fulfill the important function of feeding the entire population. Inventories of raw materials, packaging and auxiliary materials are at a level compatible with sales, even though sales are increasing in the short term. The flow of receipt of these materials continues to occur normally. The companies adopted the best practices disclosed by the health agencies in Brazil and abroad, in order to guarantee the safety of their employees and consumers. In addition to the wheat industrialization process being highly automated and without manual intervention, additional procedures guarantee the food safety of our products. The sector is attentive to the main measures of governments, at all levels, mainly those that refer to public transport – which affects the movement of our employees – and in the circulation of cargo transport, which affects both the distribution of final products and the supply of raw materials and production inputs. Therefore, it is essential that the entire supply chain works: wheat suppliers, transporters, packaging and input manufacturers, food infrastructure, services and assistance to truck drivers on the roads and, above all, to ensure that our specialized workforce continues to work. As for workers in the sector, it is important to highlight that, like health professionals, who are being very necessary and required, our employees are performing their work of equal value. Its functions are even more important in order to continue to feed the entire population. It is important to note that 60% of the wheat consumed in Brazil is imported and depends on the normal functioning of Brazilian and foreign ports. In addition to the challenge that the pandemic brings to all sectors, the great exchange rate devaluation combined with the increase in the cost of replacing wheat brings great challenges to the sector. This vulnerability in a strategic area for Brazilian society has been permanently overcome by the action of the milling industry, including close contact with government authorities. The wheat industry goes public to reassure Brazilian society about the regular supply of wheat flour for the production of basic foods for national consumption and about the precautions that are being taken in the current circumstances, ”said the entity’s president, Rubens Barbosa.
Source: Universo Agro/DATAGRO