Soybean sales in Brazil's top grain producing state of Mato Grosso in December reached 51pc of estimated production for the full 2019-20 season, according to state Institute of Agricultural Economics (Imea).
The pace of sales is faster than the 43.4pc five-year average for the period. Imea estimates 33mn metric tonnes (t) for the 2019-20 season.
The pace is also faster than one year ago when 41.3pc of the estimated production for the 2018-19 season was already sold. Sales were at 43.8pc of the estimated 2019-20 harvest in November.
The depreciation of the Brazilian real against the US dollar continued helping the competitiveness of Brazilian soybean exports. Sales for the 2018-19 soybean season reached 99.3pc of the 32.5mn t produced.
For the 2019-20 corn season, sales reached 51.6pc of the estimated total seasonal output of 31.6mn t. Planting of winter corn will begin after the soybean harvest for the 2019-20 season. The pace is faster than the five-year average of 34pc of production sold for this year's period. For the 2018-19 season, 98.8pc of 32.3mn t produced corn was sold.
Imea also reported sales of cotton lint. The sales are at 66.7pc of the estimated production of 1.9mn t in the 2019-20 cycle. One year ago, sales were at 65.3pc of production. The five-year average is 48.4pc of production sold for this time of the year.
By Kauanna Navarro
