Brazil president to meet soy farmers amid oilseeds price inflation

By Pedro Fonseca

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Saturday that he plans to meet with local soy farmers next week to discuss a rise in prices of the nation's most prized export commodity.

Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures soared to their highest prices since March 2018 on Friday, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected tighter domestic supplies.

In Brazil, the price of soy for shipping out of the port of Paranaguá reached a record high of 159.22 reais ($28.78) per bag this week amid a drought in the beginning of the planting season and a weak currency.

Bolsonaro said he will rely on Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias to arrange the meeting with the growers.

"We are not going to regulate, we are not going to interfere in anything," Bolsonaro said in conversations with a supporters earlier in the day broadcast live on his social networks. "It is a free market," he said.

Bolsonaro also said he discussed food price inflation with Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and Central Bank Governor Roberto Campos.

 

($1 = 5.5316 reais)

 

(Reporting by Pedro Fonseca; Writing by Ana Mano; Editing by Aurora Ellis)