Brasília, January 7, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The executive secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Amauri Dimarzio, guaranteed that the government will not lend money to save Parmalat in Brazil. "The government will not get involved in the case of specific companies. The government does not administer companies, but, rather, the sector."

Even so, he admitted that there is a R$ 200 million credit line for commercialization with Federal Government Loans (EGF) that can be used. And, as it stands, the EGF can only be contracted by companies or cooperatives, not by individual producers.

"We are going to restore equilibrium to the sector. The government has instruments to support the producers. We don't want to disorganize the milk sector, which is very important. In 90 to 120 days, we shall enter the inter-harvest period, and milk can become scarce," the secretary observed.

According to Dimarzio, if the EGF credit line for commercialization were already being used, the situation would be calm.

The secretary, who coordinated a meeting among representatives of Parmalat, the dairy producers, and the government, said that, beginning Wednesday (7), a special group will be operating to analyze all the problems concerning the productive chain of milk in Brazil. (DAS)