Brazil exports over 16m mt of soybeans, a record for May

Brazilian soybean exports reached 16.4 million mt in May, a record for this time of the year and less than 1mi llion mt below the all-time record shipped in April, official customs data showed Tuesday.

The country loaded 781,114 mt of beans per working day in May, down from daily shipment rates above 880,000 mt at the beginning of the month but still 10.7% higher on the year.

May bean exports came slightly above the 16.2 million mt forecast set by the Brazilian grain exporters association Anec in the week prior.

Looking ahead, over 8.2 million mt of beans are scheduled to leave Brazilian ports in the coming weeks, line-up data from shipping agency Cargonave showed Tuesday.

Despite the record export level, the agency’s data shows that the share of beans heading to China declined from May 2020 – the full official statistics will be released in the coming days.

The country exported 13,919 mt of corn in May at a daily average of 663 mt, 46.8% lower on the year.

That said, Brazilian corn exports are typically very low at this time of the year and, despite the expected shortfalls in the second crop safrinha due to dry weather conditions, volumes shipped should pick up from the second semester.