Brazilian farmers have sold 56.5% of their beans in advance through December 4, Safras & Mercado, an agribusiness consultancy, said in a statement last Friday. Considering Brazil is poised to collect 133.517 million tons of the oilseeds this season, the volume of pre-sold soy amounts to an estimated 75.403 million tons, Safras said.
Intense rains in parts of Brazil have limited the advance of the soybean harvest over the past few days while also delaying exports of the oilseed, agribusiness consultancy Arc Mercosul said on Friday.
The price of Brazilian soybeans in local currency reached the highest level in almost two months, driven by a spike in port premiums for soybeans and a weaker currency, both caused by the trade dispute between China and the United States.
Two Iranian vessels have been stranded for weeks at Brazilian ports, unable to head back to Iran due to lack of fuel, which state-run oil firm Petrobras refuses to sell them due to sanctions imposed by the United States.
Striking truck drivers resumed some roadblocks in Brazil on Monday even as the government cracked down on protesters and promised to implement a law to lower toll costs and give other benefits to the transport sector.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed into law on Wednesday new regulations to make its ports more efficient and attract up to 12 billion dollars in investments as the country finally begins to tackle logistics bottlenecks hampering vast farm exports.
Brazil’s soybean production has reached record levels this season which could make the country the world’s leading producer but port congestion and lack of storage capacity are impeding exports of soybean as producers fear losing international markets.