Junes 2, 2008

Brazil soy market sluggish on weaker dollar

Brazil's soy market ground to a halt on Thursday as the dollar dropped to a nine-year low of BRL1.62.

The same sluggish business was expected from the Brazilian soy trade on Friday, commodity analysts at grain brokerage firm Cerealpar said.

The dollar was down 0.40 percent on Friday morning in Sao Paulo compared to Thursday's close.

With the local currency strengthening and Chicago Board of Trade soy futures expected to start the day down, Brazil's main soy states are likely to remain quiet.

In Mato Grosso, business has practically stopped due to Chicago soy futures and the strong Brazilian real, according to Cerealpar.

Cerealpar reported that discounts for Brazilian soy were 50 cents under June for buyers and 42 cents under the June soy CBOT on the sell side.

September soy premiums were 12 above the September CBOT soy contract on the buy side and 20 over September on the sell side.

Soymeal business had buyers willing to acquire at 7 points over the June soymeal contract on the CBOT, with no sellers.

August and September soymeal discounts were 19 under the August CBOT soymeal contract on the buy side and 13 under the August CBOT soymeal contract on the seller's side.

Soy oil discounts were 100 under the June CBOT for buyers and 80 under for sellers. August and September discounts for Brazilian soy oil on Thursday were 180 points under the August soy oil CBOT contract on the buy side with sellers willing to sell at 120 under.