June 16, 2010

Brazilian soy trade moderate

Brazil's soy trade is tepid Tuesday (June 15) as eyes turn to the World Cup after brisk trading on Monday (June 14), industry participants said.

Nearby July soy in early trade on Tuesday (June 15) rose 7 cents to US$9.58 on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Trade on Tuesday (June 15) is slow as prices on CBOT are only slightly higher than Monday (June 14) and people are more focused on Brazil's World Cup soccer game, said a chief trader at a major US soy producer.

Brazilian producers are also seeing the exchange rate on Tuesday trimming gains made on CBOT in the local market, he said. The Brazilian real was at BRL1.79 (US$1.00) to the dollar against the Monday close of BRL1.80 (US$1.01).

Brazil's producers, however, on Monday were tempted to sell their beans at around BRL40 (US$22.4) per 60-kg bag. This spurred good volumes of trade, the trader said.

Brazil's soy premiums this week were firm at around 50-51 cents over the nearby July soy futures contract on CBOT, he said.

Brazilian agricultural consultancy Celeres said in a weekly report on Monday (June 14) that Brazil's farmers had sold 64% of the 2009-10 soy crop as of last Friday (June 11). Brazil's soy sales were up from 62% the week before but down from 71% at the same time a year ago.

Steve Cachia, a soy analyst at consultancy Cerealpar, agreed trade was expected to remain slow on Tuesday as the World Cup fever took over.

Trade on Tuesday was expected to be done at around BRL39 (US$21.8) per bag at Paranagua port, Brazil's main grain port, steady from Monday's prices, Cachia said.

Brazil is the world's No.2 soy producer after the US.