Soyabeans are about to become hot stuff in Brazil. The crop faced a serious crisis when the government almost entirely cut it out of its subsidised credit programmes and the producers were desperately looking out for money for the next crop.
But the situation has taken a dramatic turn after the state-run Banco do Brasil launched seven rural credit bonds (CPR) as part of a new programme that is expected to finance 3 million tonnes of soyabeans based on bonds issued by producers with the bank's backing. "Before only Banco do Brasil was financing bonds. Now private banks are also showing interest. They can get international lines of credit to finance agricultural production and use the CPR bonds," enthuses Carlos Murilo Periera de Mello, Director of commodities at Cotia Trading, Sao Paulo. And the farmers would be relieved of their 2 major worries, Brazil's exceptionally high interest rates and a lack of capital.
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