US soybean futures tumbled on Monday trading posting their biggest percentage drop in nearly one year, on selling sparked by anecdotal accounts of better-than-expected yields in the Midwest farm belt.
Brazil’s harvest of cereals, legumes and oilseeds reached an estimated 164.5 million metric tons in 2012, which is 2.8% above the figure of 2011 (160.1 million metric tons) and 0.7% above the July estimate (163.3 million metric tons).
Soybean prices again climbed on Tuesday in Chicago reaching a historic record of 650.74 dollars the ton, boosted by investors’ purchases fearing limited supplies because of the worst drought in the US in the last five decades.
Argentina has filed its third trade complaint in two weeks, the World Trade Organization said on Monday, challenging US laws that it says have blocked imports of fresh lemons from north-west Argentina.
Global food prices soared by 10% in July from a month ago, with maize and soybean reaching all-time peaks due to an unprecedented summer of droughts and high temperatures in both the United States and Eastern Europe, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Food Price Watch report.
Soy beans in Chicago climbed to their highest having advanced 0.4% on Thursday to 650.47 dollars the ton, while corn up 0.2% to 319.47 dollars the ton came closer to its record value of last August, 327.25 dollars. Wheat meantime slid 0.2% to 324.64 dollars the ton.
Standard & Poor’s credit risk rating agency improved the prospects of Paraguay, removing the country from credit-watch where it had been placed with negative implications last June 25 when the political situation that removed Fernando Lugo as president and subsequent suspension of Paraguay from Mercosur.
The administration of President Cristina Fernandez again challenged the United States on the “trade restrictions in place against Argentine products” which it claims are part of “a protectionist policy inconsistent with from the World Trade Organization”.
Argentina’s trade surplus reached 1.014 billion dollars in July, which is 54% higher than the same month a year ago. Exports totalled 7.4 billion and imports 6.37bn according to the latest release from the official stats office, Indec.
The Argentine Foreign Ministry on Tuesday hit back at the United States amid various trade barrier complaints and allegations of illegality saying that it would report the country for violating the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) rules for stopping imports of Argentine meat and citrus fruits to the US.