The Brazilian soybean trading of the current (2019/20) and new (2020/21) crops advanced again at a strong pace in April and the first week of May. In another period when the U.S. currency continued to advance against Brazilian real, the appreciation of domestic prices led to the maintenance of selling interest amid Brazilian growers. Prices in Brazil set a new record in the period, following the dollar high and strong demand for exports.
According to a survey conducted by SAFRAS & Mercado, with data collected until May 8, 85.2% of the current Brazilian soybean crop (2019/20) have already been sold, with a strong advance of 11.3% compared to the previous month (73.9%). The current index is equivalent to approximately 106.22 million tons already traded out of an estimated production of 124.61 million tons. In the same period last year, the index was 55.4%, while the normal five-year average for the period is 59.0%.
For the new Brazilian soybean crop (2020/21), which will start to be sown in September, the research shows that 31.5% of a hypothetical production (based on the 2019/20 crop) have already been committed, indicating a strong advance of 10.1% over April (21.4%). In the same period of the previous year, only 8.1% had been sold. Area and production data from the current crop were used to calculate the percentage of commitment for the new season. The first official estimate by SAFRAS & Mercado for area, productivity, and production of the new Brazilian soybean crop is traditionally released in July.