SAO PAULO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Large food retailers

including Tesco ( TSCDF ), Sainsbury's and Aldi have

urged global grain traders to defend Brazil's soy moratorium

initiative, a pact designed to protect soy-driven deforestation

in the Brazilian Amazon.

In a letter dated Sept. 5 seen by Reuters, the food grocers

directly ask the CEOs of ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus

Company and China's Cofco "to publicly reaffirm the 2008 cut-off

date" for banning purchases of soybeans from farmers in the

sensitive biome.