Brazil shipped less soyabeans and sugar to foreign buyers in February compared with the same month a year before, but boosted exports of corn, soyameal and soyaoil, according to official data released on Thursday. Numbers from Brazil's Trade Ministry show the country shipped 2.86 million tonnes of soyabeans in February, 650,000 tonnes less than in the same period in 2017, likely the results of delays in planting and harvesting of the oilseed this year.
But there were large increases in shipments of soya byproducts. Brazil exported 1.35 million tonnes of soyameal last month, almost double the volume seen a year earlier, and shipped 125,641 tonnes of soyaoil versus 75,565 tonnes last year. Argentina, a global leader in soya byproducts exports, is going through a harsh drought, and there is expectation that the country will have less soya meal and soya oil to sell this year. It is unclear, however, whether buyers are moving to secure supplies in other producing countries such as Brazil.
Corn exports were high as well, at 1.25 million tonnes, more than 700,000 tonnes above the volume reported in February 2017. Sugar shipments came in a lot lower, at around 1 million tonnes, half a million tonnes below February 2107, as mills grapple with a global oversupply of the commodity and have opted to produce more ethanol than the sweetener at the final stages of the crop late last year. There was also a large drop on crude oil exports, both compared with last year and with January.
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