Brazilian Farmers are Slow Sellers of Their Soybeans and Corn

Brazilian farmers have been slow sellers of their 2023/24 soybean crop due to low prices and disappointing yields. Farmers in Brazil had sold 33.8% of their 2023/24 soybean production as of March 1st according to the consulting firm Datagro. This represents an advance of only 2.2% from the prior month and it compares to an average of 48.5%. On March 1st of 2021, farmers had sold 62.6% of their soybean production.

Datagro estimates that farmers will produce 147.3 million tons of soybeans in 2023/24 and that they have sold 48.9 million tons of soybeans compared to 54.16 million tons sold at this time last year.

Farmers are only selling as much as needed to pay immediate bills as they wait for improved pieces. Due to disappointing yields, some farmers may not harvest enough soybeans to fulfill their forward contracts with grain companies. Others have declared bankruptcy to help in the renegotiation of their production loans.

For the 2024/25 soybean crop that will be planted starting in September, Brazilian farmers have only sold 1.3% of their anticipated production.

Brazilian farmers are also slow sellers of their 2023/24 corn production. They have sold 14.4% of their anticipated safrinha corn production compared to 18.2% last year and 34.3% average.

Tags: yields, crop, estimates, sold, corn, Brazil, prices, soybeans, Production