Soybean Shipment Faces Delay in Brazil Port on Rain, Demand

Soybean and corn shipments from the Brazil’s second-largest port face delays because of rain as farmers boost exports amid surging prices, a port official said.

About 1,000 trucks are waiting to unload at the southern port of Paranagua, Business Director Lourenco Fregonese said in a telephone interview today. A year earlier, there was no line, he said.

Five days of above-average rainfall has prevented trucks from unloading, and the line of waiting cargo now extends 20 kilometers (12 miles), Fregonese said. The port is expected to handle as much as a combined 28 million metric tons of corn, wheat, soybeans, soy meal and sugar this year, up 20 percent from 2010 as farmers boost exports to benefit from rising prices, he said.

“Farmers are in a euphoria and selling more abroad,” Fregonese said. “Shipping demand will continue to heat up this year.”

Soybean output in Brazil, the world’s second-biggest grower, may rise to a record 70.1 million tons this year, from 68.7 million tons last year, the Agriculture Ministry said on Feb. 9. Corn growers will harvest 54.5 million tons of the grain, down from 56 million tons in 2010, the ministry said.

Soybean Exports

Soybean exports may rise 6.2 percent to a record 31 million tons this year, or $21 billion, fueled by rising demand from China, according to the Brazilian soybean processors’ association, known as Abiove.

Corn prices have jumped 91 percent in Chicago in the past 12 months, while wheat has added 59 percent and soybeans rose 42 percent.

Soybean futures for May delivery were little changed at $13.64 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade at 1:16 p.m. New York time. The price hit a 30-month high of $14.5575 on Feb. 9.

Intermittent rain since yesterday hasn’t caused any shipping delays at the Santos port, Latin America’s biggest, said research firm SA Commodities and shipping agency Unimar Agenciamentos Maritimos. While 15 ships wait to load grains at Paranagua port, only three are waiting in Santos port, the firm said.

Paranagua shipped 1 million tons of grains in January, and Santos port shipped 709,000 tons, SA Commodities said. Paranagua ships more grains than Santos, while Santos ships more sugar.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-01/soybean-shipment-faces-delay-in-brazil-port-on-rain-demand-3-.html)