November 14, 2006

Brazil's 2006/07 soy crop 33 percent sold as of Nov 10

Brazil's 2006/07 soy crop was 33 percent sold as of Nov 10 compared to 19 percent at that time last month thanks to favourable international prices for soybeans, farm consultancy AgRural said Monday (Nov 13).

Last year at that time, just 7 percent of the 2005/06 crop was committed to soy buyers.

Most of the sales are in exchange for crop inputs for the planting season.

AgRural said Monday that 52 percent of Brazil's 21.3 million hectares of soy fields had been planted as of Nov 10.

The centre-west soy belt, which starts planting earlier than the southern states, is 49 percent sold at this time, AgRural said, with 53 percent of the 2006/07 soybeans from no. 1 producer Mato Grosso already sold to buyers.

Southern states, Parana and Rio Grande do Sul, which start planting in mid and late October, are 18 percent and 15 percent sold respectively. Parana and Rio Grande do Sul are the no. 2 and no. 3 soy producing states.

AgRural estimates that Brazil will produce 55.9 million tonnes in the 2006/07 crop barring poor weather conditions this summer, compared to 53.4 million tonnes the firm estimated from the 2005/06 crop.

Nearly 100 percent of the 2005/06 crop has been sold at this time, with 4 percent of some 4 million tonnes in the south-eastern states of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais remaining and 2 percent of the 26.8 million tonnes from the centre-western states remaining, AgRural said.

Brazil is the world's no. 2 soy producer and exporter behind the US.