Legal control of moisture meters for cereals, grains, and oilseeds in Brazil

Soybeans, corn, rice, beans, and coffee are commodities that represent an important role in the Brazilian economy, performing USD 60 billion only in exports in 2022. Consequently, moisture measurement for cereals, grains, and oilseeds has a key role in the commodities market of the national economy, as moisture content influences the monetary value of grains. Moisture meter regulation was first enforced in Brazil in 2013, and a quality infrastructure for legal control is being settled. The current scenario shows an increasing number of both initial and subsequent verifications, as well as of repairers, in 2022 totalling 1,472 initial verifications, 506 subsequent verifications, 10 verification laboratories, 20 repairers, and 2 manufacturers, followed by a stable number of instruments being put on the market annually. The main challenge now remains in finding an alternative to the reference method for verifications, as it currently represents a bottleneck for production processes, and there are also logistics issues for moisture meters in agricultural areas far from verification laboratories. Moreover, a moisture meter as a working standard is under study as a method for verifications.