SAO PAULO, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Meat producers in Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state are lobbying the government to approve soy imports from neighboring Bolivia after drought shrank supplies in the world's No. 2 grower, a local official and analysts said on Wednesday.
Farmers want some 300,000 tonnes of Bolivian soybeans to feed their livestock, mostly pigs, a sign that Brazil, the world's top exporter of beef and poultry and growing exporter of pork, suffers from a lack of agricultural planning.
"The federal government is doing a risk analysis because it would be the first time we import soybeans from Bolivia," said an aide for the local government in Mato Grosso do Sul who asked not to be named because she is not an official spokesperson.
"The local government intervened on behalf of these industries because they don't have soy," she said.
Industry groups and conglomerates in southern Brazil have imported small amounts of soy from Paraguay in the past weeks but the government has not stepped in on their behalf.
"Paraguay doesn't have any more soy. Bolivia could be an alternative but they historically haven't had quality soy," said Carlos Davalos, an analyst at Granos Corretora in Mato Grosso do Sul. He said companies in the state have likely imported 18,000 tonnes of Paraguayan soybeans this year.
Brazil's soybean crop, which finished harvest in May, fell to roughly 65 million tonnes from a record 75 million tonnes the year before due to dry weather.
Analysts said farmers were lured by high prices on international markets and the local feeds industry had not prepared adequately for the drought by storing soybeans.
"In the first half of the year China bought a lot of Brazilian soy, so now our stock is zero, in fact it is probably negative," said Alexandre Mendonca de Barros, director of Sao Paulo-based consultancy MB AGRO said.
Speaking on the sidelines of an agro-business conference, he said the scarcity of the grain could drive prices in southern Brazil to $18 per 60-kg bag and the Bolivian soy should not have a problem clearing customs.
Despite the drop in soybean output, Brazil is harvesting a record corn crop. Prices of both grains are rocketing due to drought in the U.S. farm belt and Brazil's exports are expected to reach unprecedented levels going forward.
