Commodities Buzz: Brazil Set To Emerge As Top Soybean Producer (11:18, 13 Sep 2013) Brazil is set to emerge as the leading soybean producer in world for the first time, thanks to the incentive to farmers provided from resilient prices and a weak real, overtaking the US, whose hopes have been dented by dryness. The US last season held on to its record as the top soybean producer, for nearly five decades, thanks to late rains which enabled its drought-tested crop to recover above 82.0m tonnes, beating the Brazilian harvest by a narrow 55,000 tonnes. US Department of Agriculture estimates on Thursday upgraded the Brazilian crop, which will be harvested early in 2014, to 88.0m tonnes, 3.0m tonnes ahead of forecast US output. The forecasts reflect an expectation that elevated soybean prices, coupled with a drop of getting on for 20% in the value of the real against the dollar over the last six months, will encourage Brazilian farmers to lift soybean area by 4.3%. Depreciation results in higher values for exported soybeans which are sold on the global market, the USDA noted. While the real will also lift costs of inputs such as fertilizers and insecticides, which are largely imported, the increases in input prices are lower than the increases in the value of the soybeans in real terms and higher profits are expected. Powered by Commodity Insights
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 07:26:16 +0000
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