April 8, 2004

Brazil February Soybean Crush Reaches 1.5 Million MT

Brazil crushed a record 1.5 million metric tons of soybeans in February, the first month of the new season, Brazil's Vegetable Oil Industries Association, or Abiove, said Wednesday.
 
The crush was 12% higher than the 1.338 million tons registered during the same month last year, said a monthly Abiove report.
 
Brazil is expected to crush a record 31 million tons of soybeans in the 2004-05 season, up from 27.796 million last year.
 
With the arrival of the new crop, crushing industry stocks rose to 2.089 million tons at the end of February from 1.124 million tons in January.
 
February industry soybean purchases totaled 2.594 million tons, compared with 1.013 million tons in January and 2.665 million tons in February last year.
 
Soymeal stocks slipped to 829,000 tons at the end of February from 862,000 tons at the start of the month.
 
Soyoil stocks totaled 187,000 tons on Feb. 29, down from 202,000 tons at the start of the month.
 
The Abiove figures were based on a survey of 84% to 86% of Brazil's soy processing sector, which also accounts for the majority of exports.
 
Brazil is the world's second largest soybean producer and this year is set to become the world's largest soy complex exporter.