September 23, 2009

Brazilian farmers are opting to plant more soy due to relatively strong prices compared with grains and cotton, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday (Sep 22).

 

Oil World said it expected Brazilian soy plantings to be boosted by 0.5 million to 0.6 million hectares this season. Assuming normal weather conditions, it forecast a soy crop in Brazil of around 62 million tonnes in early 2010, up from 57.6 million tonnes in 2009.

 

Oil World also said it expected soy plantings in Argentina to rise by around 1.4 million to 1.7 million hectares. It has estimated Argentina's soy crop at 52 million tonnes for early 2010, up from 32 million tonnes in 2009.

 

But a major uncertainty in Argentina would be the timing and volume of farmer selling, Oil World said.

 

It said in a report that Argentine crushers complain about a lack of soy and increasing difficulties to acquire the raw material from the farmers.