The Chinese appetite for pork, poultry and beef, which require higher volumes of soybean as animal feed, is proving the Brazilian soybean industry with a growing market.

Despite environmentalists who say the port encourages destruction of the rain forest by making it easier for soy farmers, loggers and ranchers to get their products to market, Cargill reopened its deep-water Amazon River port.

Animal livestock industry should not fear the emphasis on ethanol as a new energy source.

It is estimates that Brazil will harvest 135.5 million tonnes of grain this year, 2.9% or 3.8 million tonnes more than in the previous year, according to data from the National Food Supply Company (Conab).

This year, more feed has been consumed in the Brazilian feed, pet food and fish feed sectors, according to Brazilian Feed Industry Association estimations.