Large Brazilian meatpackers are turning to wheat as they try to fend off a rise in the cost of corn, the main livestock feed ingredient, meat lobby ABPA said on Friday.
A Nasdaq report says Francisco Turra, president of ABPA's advisory body, told Reuters that demand from meat processors, who provide feed to the farmers who raise the livestock, is driving a rise in wheat planting intentions in his native Rio Grande do Sul state.
Wheat can fully replace corn as feed for pork and poultry, he said.
High prices and delays in Brazil's second corn crop have pressured meatpackers' margins, leading some companies to turn to Paraguay and Argentina for supplies.