grain trading giant and parent of Cargill Agricola SA also declined to comment.Juliana Basso de Araújo The parent firms of the other two affected companies did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.China's GACC did not respond to a request for comment."When we try to process clearance on customs' website for soybeans shipped by these five companies we are not able to proceed," said a second source a trader at a China-based soybean crusher.Countries typically require imported or exported agricultural goods to be inspected to ensure they are free of pests and diseases to protect local food supplies.HOLD-UP COMES AHEAD OF PEAK LOADINGSBrazilian soybean export shipments remain seasonally light early in the South American harvest But loadings are due to surge over the coming weeks as more of the harvested crop is moved to market at which point suspensions could be far more disruptive market analysts said.Some analysts questioned the timing of the suspensions so close to Trump's inauguration.China may want to slow shipments from Brazil to wait for crush margins to improve after making big purchases or to give Beijing room to make a trade deal with Washington that could include purchases of U.S brokerage A/C Trading."It could be something to give Xi (Jinping) an opportunity to buy U.S beans to put in reserve and get some goodwill," Gerlach said.The Brazilian agriculture ministry said the GACC detected the presence of pesticides and pests on a routine inspection of cargos."The temporary suspension of the companies' units was communicated in advance by GACC to the Brazilian side demonstrating confidence in the Brazilian inspection system and the robustness of the work carried out by the Brazilian government and exporters," the ministry said.The ministry said Brazil's overall soy exports to China "will not be affected" adding it will provide the needed information for China to lift the temporary suspensions.It was unclear how many cargoes and volumes were affected by the non-conformities as the Brazilian government did not provide additional details It also was not clear how long the suspension would last although traders expected it to be short-term.China which buys more than 60% of soybeans shipped across the world now takes more than 70% of its imports of the oilseed from Brazil market share."We are taking it seriously," an official at one of the affected companies told Reuters He declined to be named due to sensitivities of the issue.China imported a record 105 million metric tons of soybeans in 2024.Reporting by Laurie Chen Mei Mei Chu and Ella Cao in Beijing and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Ana Mano and Gabriel Araujo in Sao Paulo; Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasília; Tom Polansek Huffstutter in Chicago; and Marcelo Teixeira in New York; Editing by Lewis Jackson Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Laurie Chen is a China Correspondent at Reuters' Beijing bureau, covering politics and general news. Before joining Reuters, she reported on China for six years at Agence France-Presse and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. She speaks fluent Mandarin. , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved os tratores ultrapassaram o limite estipulado em acordo e pulverizaram veneno sobre lavouras da comunidade - Reprodução / Tekoha Yvyju Avary “We're going to die here, but we're not going to go back,” says an Indigenous leader who will not be identified for security reasons after yet another attack on the Yvyju Avary community of the Avá-Guarani Indigenous people between the municipalities of Guaíra and Terra Roxa The area is part of Tekoha Guasu Guavira Indigenous Land In an attack on Thursday (23), a tractor drove over crops and sprayed pesticides near the Indigenous houses They have stomach aches and nausea,” says an Indigenous woman whose name won’t be revealed for safety concerns The Avá-Guarani people recorded videos of the convoy's arrival while the tractor got close to the houses spraying poison This is the second attack on the site in less than a week a truck and four tractors loaded with pesticides advanced on the community allegedly at the behest of a landowner who is demanding the expulsion of the Indigenous people from the area The rural property overlaps the Indigenous territory. “All we managed to save that day was destroyed today,” the woman laments. the human rights mission organized by the Collective of Solidarity and Commitment to the Guarani Peoples visited three areas retaken by the Avá-Guarani people: the Arakoe in the municipalities of Guaíra and Terra Roxa The delegation brought together Indigenous and human rights organizations authorities and public figures on a mission in solidarity with the Guarani who have been the target of ongoing violence over the last two months In a statement, the government of Paraná demanded fast action by the federal government to end the agrarian conflicts in the region. The document also states that responsibility lies with the Ministry of Justice and Public Security the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI “Governor Carlos Massa Ratinho Junior has already met with the Ministries of Justice and Public Security and Agrarian Development and Family Farming to reinforce the need to seek urgent responses for the safety of all people involved,” it said The Ministry of Justice and Public Security reports that the National Public Security Force is on the territory to support FUNAI in collaboration with Paraná’s public security agencies under the coordination of the Federal Police. “The actions of the National Force are full-time and focused on mediating conflicts between Indigenous people and farmers in the region as well as carrying out ostensive patrols and judicial police activities in support of the local Civil Police All these actions are made respecting the cultures of Indigenous peoples promoting the protection of the human rights of this population,” the Ministry of Justice and Public Security said in a statement. Brasil de Fato also contacted FUNAI and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples which are monitoring the case but had not heard back from them by the time this news story was published All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced provided it is not altered and proper credit is given All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced Indígenas de 14 aldeias participaram da atividade de formação sobre como realizar denúncia sobre contaminação por agrotóxicos - Foto: Lizely Borges About 4,000 Avá-Guarani Indigenous individuals live in the far west of the state of Paraná at risk of glyphosate contamination The substance is the active ingredient in Roundup the world's best-selling pesticide for eliminating weeds from crops and even public spaces itchy patches on the skin and diseases such as cancer have become part of Avá-Guarani's routine in recent years a lot of people get headaches and go to the health center more frequently We've never had that [before],” says Celso Japoty Alves an Avá-Guarani leader and former cacique – Indigenous leader of a specific Indigenous community – of the Ocoy Indigenous community in the town of São Miguel do Iguaçu. The community is one of three Avá-Guarani communities demarcated as Indigenous territory by the federal government. Even so, it does not guarantee security for residents. "We're being harmed because there's no land protection regarding this issue The machine has been spraying poison and various pesticides next to Indigenous communities it reaches Indigenous communities,” says Alves "All of these Indigenous communities are being affected by poison, mainly from soy plantations There are two monocultures here in the region: corn and soy There are around four thousand Indigenous people at risk from glyphosate because most communities have no protection there is no green area or safe distance,” says the Indigenous leader there are houses and on the other soy plantations where they used to spray poison.” A 2023 survey by the Guarani Yvyrupá Commission (CGY, in Portuguese), which brings together collectives of the Guarani people from southern and southeastern Brazil in the struggle for land except for three villages located in urban areas all the other Avá-Guarani communities are next to plantations. the distance between plantations and Indigenous homes is less than two meters far less than the minimum distance of 50 meters from water sources The survey also points out that around 60% of Indigenous communities’ territories have been taken by agribusiness with only 1.3% occupied by small farms and Indigenous housing and 12% by forested areas Some Avá-Guarani communities are located in the towns of Guaíra and Terra Roxa and on the border between Brazil and Paraguay According to the petitioning organizations 509 of the 661 agricultural establishments in Guaíra and 921 of the 1,209 agricultural establishments in Terra Roxa use pesticides predominantly on soy and corn plantations. which caused much of the Avá-Guarani territory to be flooded The contamination of the Avá-Guarani people by glyphosate has become the subject of a complaint against the biochemical company Bayer at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for the harms of the pesticide on the environment and human health. three other cases from Latin America joined the complaint made to the National Contact Point (NCP) in Germany where Bayer's headquarters are located The agency is responsible for promoting the OECD guidelines for multinational companies as well as dealing with cases through non-judicial complaint mechanisms. Glyphosate has been produced by the agrochemical company Monsanto since the 1970s which was bought by Bayer for US$66 billion in 2018 consolidating the company as the world's largest agrochemical and transgenic group Among the organizations that filed the complaint at the end of April are Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales from Brazil; Base Investigaciones Sociales from Bolivia; and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights The abovementioned organizations report that “the intensive use of pesticides contaminates rivers, food, animals and Indigenous peoples Pesticides are used as a chemical weapon to confine Indigenous peoples to a strip of land that gets smaller every day Dependent on rivers and springs to access water Indigenous communities report frequent illnesses such as vomiting especially among the elderly and children." They also highlight “the disappearance of wild species of birds game animals and a decrease in the number of fish and loss of food production capacity due to the contamination of rivers affecting the food sovereignty of the Avá-Guarani people There are areas fumigated with pesticides near Indigenous houses or roads." a lawyer at the Brazilian NGO Terra de Direitos explains that “the communities are surrounded by large farms mainly transgenic soy with high pesticide usage Indigenous communities have been denouncing a process of territorial confinement,” she said of the Avá-Guarani. "Due to the presence of agribusiness around these communities water and intoxication of Indigenous people – both acute and chronic – is alarming Indigenous people are denouncing the process of losing biodiversity because pesticides fall on these plants and they wither their roots rot and their fruits don’t grow,” she says. In the lawyer's words, this is also a state of “food insecurity” added to latent health issues There are “reported cases of itchy skin which are classic symptoms of acute intoxication as well as many cases of depression and suicide pesticides play an important role in contributing to mental illness." "There are cases of miscarriages precisely because of pesticide drift [according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “is the movement of pesticide dust or droplets through the air at the time of application or soon after”] Several studies prove that having pesticides in these areas is a risk because they cause endocrine and carcinogenic diseases which influence breast milk contamination." “pesticides are used as chemical weapons against Indigenous communities” to expel them from ancestral territories they are retaking and curb the struggle for land demarcation which includes areas occupied by agribusiness. Brasil de Fato asked the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI in Portuguese) about the situation of the Avá-Guarani people in western Paraná state the company said it has “no knowledge of the alleged incidents” "Official approvals are regulated by numerous national and international laws and guidelines Safety studies submitted for pesticide approval are conducted following the strict international guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Our internal safety criteria are even stricter than legal requirements,” the multinational company said in a statement The chocolate bars that are called "Oxfam Fairtrade chocolat aux 47g, chocolat aux Noix d'Amazonia" have already been taken off Luxembourg shelves, but the Health Ministry has also issued a warning as a precaution. In Luxembourg, the product is distributed by the company Terra Roxa in Schouweiler and was sold to clubs that distributed "Kleesercherstuten" (St. Nicolas bags of sweets) to children. Therefore, obviously anyone with a peanut allergy should not eat the chocolate bars, however the bars pose no threat those with no allergy. Do not miss the news - get the wort.lu newsletter in English delivered to your inbox six days a week. AustraliaAustralians mark election day with 'democracy sausages' and in 'budgy smugglers'Australians fired up barbecues and wore tight-fit swim trunks called "budgy smugglers" to voting centers as they welcomed election day on Saturday (3 May) with some unique and quirky traditions. 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Brasil é o maior exportador de soja para a China que consome cerca de 60% do grão produzido em todo o mundo the measure affected ships from Cargill Agrícola SA The news agency reported the Chinese authorities' decision on January 8 Brasil de Fato contacted the five companies but did not hear back. an economist and researcher on Sino-Brazilian relations at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG China's decision to suspend imports from some Brazilian soy companies can be understood as “a warning to Brazilian agribusiness especially about the need to improve quality controls and review practices related to pesticide use.” “The maintenance and expansion of the Chinese market and trade depends on strict compliance with the required health and environmental standards and this could lead to the need for significant changes in Brazilian agricultural practices,” says Chaib Alan Tygel, a member of the Permanent Campaign Against Pesticides and For Life recalls that agroecology movements have been warning for years about the quality of Brazilian agribusiness products which rely on the use of highly toxic and environmentally damaging chemical inputs He criticizes Brazil's agribusiness model which is based on an economy dependent on more developed countries and which has its back to the implementation of a national food production policy. “These cases aren’t uncommon and have already affected other products Brazil's bet on pinning all its hopes on agribusiness has generated this kind of dependency making our country vulnerable to catastrophic crises if big importers decide to retaliate against Brazil for some reason,” says Tygel “What we are seeing in this circumstance may indeed be a case of pesticide contamination but it could also be a political or economic barrier to Brazilian exports,” says the activist “In an increasingly challenging geopolitical scenario the most strategic choice for the country would be to adopt a sovereign agricultural model focusing on producing healthy food for Brazil and strengthening ties with Latin America and Africa diversifying the foreign market and making Brazil less vulnerable to external crises,” concludes Tygel Chaib says that the impact of this decision could be measured according to how long the embargo lasts or even if there are new restrictions on other Brazilian products “This could affect domestic soybean prices and increase the cost of cattle feed in Brazil which could make Brazilian beef less competitive on the international market,” says the economist “But this impact on beef trade will depend on the extent and duration of China's suspension,” she concludes biomedical scientist and researcher at the Osvaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz in Portuguese) Karen Friedrich draws attention to the harmful effects of intensive pesticide use in agricultural production in addition to all the evidence of damage to collective health and the environment – and this may have something to do with these commercial “incidents”. are causing new pests to emerge because pests become pesticide resistant It's the same logic as hospital antibiotics there are pests developing resistance,” said the researcher. this is not good for farmers and agribusiness that want to keep these products on the market until the last minute,” said Friedrich referring to some of the companies that produce chemical agents that are widely used in Brazilian agriculture and which are already banned in several other countries due to a proven link with cancer and neurological disorders in humans as well as being dangerous for the environment The researcher mentions the case of atrazine a herbicide that has been banned for more than 20 years in several European Union countries and is one of the most widely used in Brazilian crops. Livestock and Supply said that “other units of the notified companies continue to export normally to China The suspensions only apply to the five officially notified units.” Therefore “the volumes traded by Brazil will not be affected as a result of the temporary suspension of five units” The ministry also informed that the monitoring of imported products is “part of the inspection routine” adopted in both Brazil and China adding that it is awaiting the action plans to be adopted by the companies to avoid new occurrences and expects the Chinese embargo to be lifted soon Brasil de Fato asked the ministry about the reason for the embargo 'chemical contamination from pesticides used on soy crops by Brazilian agribusiness' The ministry forwarded its official statement. Brasil de Fato also reached out the Ministry of Development which has a secretariat for managing foreign trade and the Brazilian Association of Soybean Producers (Aprosoja China is the world's largest consumer of soybeans accounting for more than 60% of the world's soybean trade According to the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China the country’s total soybean imports in 2024 exceeded 100 million tons Brazilian soy accounted for 54% of Chinese imports Brazil exports two-thirds of its soy to the Asian giant provided it is not altered and proper credit is given.