2024-05-11 21:50:55
Given the claim of some corn producers about the lack of purchase of the grain by the industry, not agreeing with the reference price and the lack of adequate and uncoordinated communication to have been able to participate in the Business Roundtable organized by the Ministry of Production and Agriculture and sponsored by the National Corporation of Poultry Farmers of Ecuador (CONAVE), the Association of the Crop Protection and Animal Health Industry (APCSA), the Association of Balanced Food Producers of Ecuador (APROBAL) and Ecuadorian Association of Balanced Foods (AFABA), The industry sends the following explanatory bulletin to our media:
Since the second week of April, the food industry began the purchase of the winter corn harvest in a normal manner, without any problems having arisen with the 21 producer associations registered with the Ministry of Agriculture (MAG), nor with the merchants of Los Ríos, which is the province that first comes out with its production.
The purchase prices currently adjust to the Minimum Support Price agreed between producers, industry and MAG, in the Advisory Council on Monday, April 29, 2024, of $16.50 per DRY AND CLEAN quintal. This is with 13% humidity and 1% impurities.
It is worth highlighting, the bulletin indicates, the positive holding of a Business Roundtable, organized by the Ministry of Production (MIPRO) and MAG, on May 1, between 11 industries and 21 producer associations, from five provinces, in which 76,390 tons were negotiated directly with producers. The 21 associations have their own collection centers where they can dry and clean grain, something that all associations should aim for.
In a report published by the digital media El Producer, farmers point out the lack of a fair price for corn when, annually and through an agreement between producers, industry and the MAG, a minimum price is established.
It is worth clarifying that the fact that the intermediation does not use the discount tables based on humidity and impurities that the MAG has issued and distributed to make payments, is a situation foreign to the industry, which buys at the PMS or above.
Precisely, to reduce dependence, as farmers cite, on intermediation, the Business Roundtable has been held, for which farmers must organize to achieve associative marketing and be able to sell grain, dry and clean, to industries. In this sense, the response of the MAG has been positive by calling for a first business roundtable between associations of producers and industries.
It is also important to highlight the degree of understanding that the different links in the animal protein chain have achieved, with the successful participation of the Minister of Agriculture, Danilo Palacios and his team, always present in the Advisory Councils, who has been able to understand the everyone’s positions, balance positions and reach agreements.
This understanding is based on understanding the mutual dependence that exists between producers and industry and the need to be competitive as a chain, within the region and in the face of the world, which is increasingly in need of food, in order to be able to grow and export from Ecuador. chicken meat, which has already started, and also pork.
In relation to wheat, it should be clarified that it is a raw material that is mainly used for the production of balanced feed for shrimp and in a minimum percentage, due to its binding properties, which help the consistency of the pellet, in livestock feed. Corn is irreplaceable in animal feed and proof of this is that at the end of the year there is never any corn left on the market.
The industry ratifies its commitment to absorb the corn harvest, as it has been doing every year, the bulletin concludes.