Soybeans held at Brazil ports boost prices in China, Wilmar says

Luzi Ann Javier – Bloomberg, 02/22/2013

Soybean deliveries of about 7 million metric tons are held up at ports in Brazil, poised to be this year’s largest exporter, pushing up prices in China, Wilmar International Ltd. (WIL) said.

“Everybody is having delays,” Kuok Khoon Hong, chief executive officer of China’s largest supplier of cooking oils, said in an interview today in Singapore, where the company is based. “That’s why prices in China are very strong, because of the bottlenecks. About 7 million tons are waiting.”

Crushers in China, the world’s biggest buyer, boosted purchases from the U.S. this week on concern that a possible strike in Brazil by dock workers will disrupt shipping, researcher Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. said today. Before the stoppage call, Oil World said Feb. 12 that about 100 ships are bottlenecked at ports and are facing wait times up to 50 days to load. Futures in Dalian reached a three-month high and prices in Chicago headed for their best run in 10 months.

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Brazil Soy, Corn Crops Seen at Record on Planting, Rain

Mario Sergio Lima – Bloomberg, 02/07/2013

Soybean output in Brazil, set to surpass the U.S. as the largest grower, will rise more than previously estimated to a record as growers expand planting, the government said. The corn forecast was also raised to a record.

Growers will harvest 83.4 million metric tons in the 2012-2013 crop year that started Sept. 1, more than the 82.7 million tons estimated last month, the Agriculture Ministry’s crop-forecasting agency, known as Conab, said in a report today. Production will climb from 66.4 million tons collected in the past season.

Rising soybean prices are encouraging growers to expand planting, while regular showers on corn crops are helping boost yields after dry weather hurt output in the past season, Conab said. Soybean futures have risen 21 percent in New York in the last 12 months.

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Soybean Sowing in Brazil and Argentina Seen Higher by Oil World

Rudy Ruitenberg – Bloomberg, 8/14/2012

Farmers in Brazil and Argentina are forecast to plant more soybeans for harvesting this season in response to higher prices, at the expense of wheat and corn sowing, Oil World wrote.

Oilseed planting in Brazil will climb to a record 28.6 million hectares (70.7 million acres) from 27 million hectares in 2011-12, the Hamburg-based researcher wrote in an e-mailed report today.

Soybean prices have risen 19 percent in Chicago in the past 12 months, while corn prices advanced 11 percent. Brazil will overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest soybean exporter in 2012-13, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts.

“Brazilian farmers have already been active sellers of new-crop soybean supplies to take advantage of the current favorable prices,” Oil World wrote. “In the domestic market soybean prices have been much more attractive for farmers than corn owing to the ample domestic corn supplies.”

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Analysis: Brazil brings farming muscle to corn and cotton

Reese Ewing – Reuters, 06/22/2011

After transforming global agriculture by quintupling their soybean production since 1980, Brazilian farmers are now on the brink of crop breakthroughs in cotton and corn, long dominated by growers in America.

Helped by high futures prices and a sustained local agricultural boom, cotton and corn acreage is spreading fast despite being twice as capital intensive as soybean crops.

The number of ship berths dedicated to these two crops at Brazil’s congested ports is growing, statistics show. And while soy will continue to reign on Brazil’s vast savanna, analysts say that even a modest shift toward corn and cotton could make a difference in global markets due to Brazil’s sheer size.

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