EXPORT WORRIES

Brazilian argiculture group warns of backlash over environmental concerns,

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL— One of Brazil’s biggest agriculture groups is sounding alarm bells for the nation’s farm exports over fires in the Amazon rainforest.

Major importers could start snubbing purchases from the country because of environmental concerns, according to the key agribusiness group known as Abag.

While shipments are still proceeding as normal, “things will get worse” if the government doesn’t take the steps needed to fight deforestation, according to Marcello Brito, chair of the group.

“Brazil may be facing its worst reputation crisis,” Brito said Friday at a press conference in Sao Paulo.

Brazil is one of the world’s most important agriculture exporters. The country ships huge amounts of sugar, coffee, soybeans, beef, poultry and orange juice, and production has surged in recent decades. That expansion came at an environmental cost. Large swaths of the Amazon forest have been cleared for logging and burned to make room for crops and cattle.

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has dismissed the fires after pledges of slashing deforestation restrictions, and Donald Trump has tweeted his support for the leader.

With the planet’s biggest rainforest burning at a record rate, global leaders, environmental groups and consumers expressed sharp criticism in recent weeks.

The world’s largest Atlantic salmon producer, Mowi SA, said it was considering halting soybean imports from Brazil, and major leather importers indicated they could suspend purchases.

Speculation is mounting that bans on the nation’s products could emerge, drawing comparisons to Southeast Asia’s palm-oil industry: Borneo, home to endangered species such as the orangutan, has lost 30 per cent of its forests in a little over four decades.