South American crops are a mixed bag this year with weather playing a big role in crop results. Agronomists point to Brazil’s second corn crop and say it made some major moves upward, while flooding has taken a toll on soybeans.
“Of course, they had the problems Rio Grande do Sul, and they did lower the Brazil soybean estimate three-tenths of a million tons to 147.3 (million tons), so that was a result of severe flooding that lost maybe three million tons of soybeans in the field in Rio Grande do Sul, and maybe as much as two million tons that were in storage. So, that was a big deal for Rio Grande do Sul. When the rain started, the soybeans were like 75 percent harvested, so it came right towards the end of the harvest, and they probably did not harvest the last 10 percent. And what they did harvest after the rain started was terrible condition. It had germinated in the pods, and it would sprout in moldy and terrible condition.”
Those conditions are having an impact on the U.S. soybean market, which has seen an uptick in demand, largely because of higher prices in Brazil. This month’s WASDE report also had some shakeups in the South American country’s crop production.
