Market News & Headlines >> Brazil Taking Steps to Ease Shortages

Brazil’s government will cut taxes and scrap import controls on certain key food staples in an effort to soften the impact of slowing production, senior officials said on Wednesday 

Some of the steps that will be implemented include raising minimum corn prices and eliminating limits on edible bean imports from China and Mexico, Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said at a news conference in Brasilia, according to Reuters News Service. 

Prices for edible beans, one of Brazil's most consumed staples, have tripled this year in the wake of a production shortage. Brazilian corn prices reached record levels in May and early June although they have since started to ease amid Brazil’s second-crop corn harvest. 

Maggi said that raising the minimum government price for corn could shift producer planting intentions away from soybeans to corn.