Despite isolated improvements, soybean trading remains at a slow pace in Brazil

The soybean selling pace for both the 2021/22 and 2022/23 crops resumed a slow pace in the country in April. With growers not interested in boosting sales, few deals were reported over the month. In any case, April was marked by some moments where rising prices brought growers back to the market. What draws more attention is the slowness of business with the new crop, where the lack of interest of growers is combined with the low availability of input companies to make negotiations through barter, since there is still uncertainty about the delivery of supplies for the coming months.

According to a survey carried out by SAFRAS & Mercado, with data collected through May 6, Brazil’s 2021/22 soybean trading was 61% sold, up 4.4% from the previous month (56.6%). The current index is equivalent to approximately 75.216 mln tons traded, from an estimated crop of 122.301 mln tons. In the same period last year, the index was 71.4%, while the five-year average for the period is 65%.

For the new Brazilian soybean crop (2022/23), the index sold reaches 12% of a still hypothetical crop, with an increase of 2.2% compared to the index of the previous month (9.8%). For the calculation, we took into account the productive potential of the 2021/22 crop in November, before the weather problems that lowered production. The index is equivalent to roughly 17.357 mln tons of a hypothetical output of 144.712 mln tons. The first estimate by SAFRAS & Mercado for the new Brazilian soybean crop (2022/23) traditionally takes place in July. Until then, this hypothetical productive potential will be used for the calculation.

Tags: Brazil, prices, soybean, crops, crop, sales, trading, Market, selling