BLBG:Soybeans Climb as Argentine Farmers Withhold Sales; Corn Drops
Soybeans advanced the most in two weeks on concern that importers will struggle for supplies before the next U.S. harvest, even with record South American crops. Corn declined.
Soybeans for delivery in May rose as much as 1.4 percent to $14.345 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the biggest gain for the most-active contract since Feb. 4. Futures traded at $14.34 by 11:01 a.m. Singapore time.
Farmers in Argentina, the world’s third-largest shipper, are delaying sales on expectations that the depreciation of the peso against the dollar will accelerate, boosting revenue for exporters, Argentine newspaper Clarin reported yesterday, citing Agriculture Ministry data. In Brazil, about 59 percent of the crop has already been sold even before they are all harvested, according to crop researcher Celeres.
“People are watching the supply coming from South America, and Brazil and Argentina are the main focus,” Tetsu Emori, a commodity fund manager at Astmax Investment Management Inc., which manages about $700 million, said by phone from Tokyo today. “The market hasn’t priced in yet the potential delays to deliveries. It’s a good buying opportunity.”
Argentinian farmers have sold 35 percent fewer soybeans from the coming harvest than they did at this time last year, Clarin said. Sales in Brazil are up from 55 percent in the same period last year, Celeres said in a report e-mailed yesterday. The country is poised to overtake drought-hit U.S. as the world’s largest grower and shipper in 2012-2013 marketing year.
U.S. farmers may plant 78.1 million acres this year, the biggest area ever, boosting production in 2013-2014 after the nation was hit last year by the worst drought since the 1930s, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Corn acreage will rise to the highest since 1927, a separate Bloomberg survey showed.
Corn for May delivery slipped 0.3 percent to $6.9525 a bushel. That puts the price of soybeans at 2.058 times the cost of corn, compared with an average of 2.43 times in the past decade. The oilseed competes with corn for acreage.
Wheat for May was little changed at $7.49 a bushel.
To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
