A fifth of EU soy imports from Brazil could be tainted by deforestation, study says

A fifth of EU soy imports from Brazil may come from land illegally deforested, according to a study released on Thursday that offers a detailed inventory of farms in the supply chain. One major soy industry group representing traders said it shuns purchases from farms identified by Brazil as problematic. That research, published Thursday in the journal Science, also opens the door for both international companies and Brazilian law enforcement to pinpoint specific farms violating rules against Amazon deforestation, according to study coauthor Raoni Rajao, who specializes in environmental management at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Previous research had traced sales only to municipalities where illegal deforestation took place.

More monitoring is especially important, the study says, as the country seeks to feed the world. Brazil, which now produces a similar volume of soy as the United States, is on track to become by far the world’s biggest soybean exporter by 2029, according to a report Thursday by the OECD and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.

The team also found that 17% of Brazil’s beef exports to the European Union are linked to deforestation. However, there were only a few “rotten apples” in the soybean and beef supply chains, with only 2% of farms causing 62% of the illegal deforestation in the area covered, it said.

The study only considered Brazilian exports to the European Union, which took in 16% of Brazil’s soybean and soymeal exports in 2019. Rajao said the researchers focused on the EU in part to because a recent EU trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur, once ratified, would increase two-way farm trade. Rajao said future research might look at exports to China, which accounts for 64% of soybean and meal sales.

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon hit an 11-year high in 2019, destroying an area the size of Lebanon, according to government data. Land clearances rose a further 25% in the first six months of 2020, compared to a year ago, preliminary data shows.

Source: Reuters