Brazil starts off 2018/19 bean exports slow, corn strong

Brazil exports of soybean got off to a slow start in February with just 586,000 mt of soybean sold in the first week and a half of the month while exports of corn reached 732,000 mt, more than in the whole of February 2017.

According to official figures from the ministry of industry, foreign trade and services published Monday, soybean exports over the first seven days of February 2018 compare with February 2017 total exports of 3.5 million mt and corn exports at 480,000 mt.

The slow start for soybean is due to the delay in planting in much of Brazil.

However, exports over the February-January marketing year could eventually eclipse that of the 68.8 million mt that was shipped in the February 2017 to January 2018 period.

Earlier this month, Daniele Siqueira, an analyst with AgRural, said February sales would be hampered by the delay of planting in Brazil’s southern states, but expected exports in March to surge higher.

Brazilian exporters sold almost 9 million mt out of ports in March 2017.