Soya exports from Brazil, which had significant delays in February due to intense rains in coastal cities, are expected to gather pace in southern ports as the weather turns drier in the coming days, according to shipping data and climate forecasts.
Rains affected shipments for 12 days last month at the port of Santos, the largest for soyabean exports out of Brazil, and for about 11 days at Paranaguá (PR), another key grain gateway, data from the shipping agency Cargonave showed.
As Brazilian farmers are halfway through harvesting their soyabean fields, this is a peak time for port activity. Yet the poor weather situation has increased soya vessels' waiting times, which have more than doubled to more than 20 days at some Santos terminals, potentially increasing the cost of operations.
In Paranaguá, the waiting time has exceeded 10 days at some terminals, according to Cargonave. If the weather improves, delays will decrease considerably even as more ships arrive to be loaded with Brazil's soya, the largest global exporter of the oilseed, shipping data show.
That is good news for traders, as the harvest in Brazil draws to a close with analysts predicting a record crop exceeding 125 million tonnes this season. Shipping agency Williams shows 10 million tonnes of soyabeans in the shipping lineup for March, and more vessels may arrive as the harvest progresses, according to data compiled by Refinitiv.
If that projection is confirmed, Brazilian exports could more than double this month compared to February, when they totaled about 5 million tonnes, according to government data. Luiz Fernando Roque, a Safras & Mercado agribusiness analyst, told Reuters on Thursday that export delays may have caused momentary problems but not to an extent that it would impact Brazil's global exports of the oilseeds.
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