As it was made aware to “AgoPro”, safrinha season’s corn harvest in Brazil is still selling extremely poorly. As of April 4, only 20% of future yield was sold, while year earlier it was 45% on the same date. This contributes to the overall downward trend in world prices for corn - farmers do not wish to sell their grains while hoping for a better price in the future; and, consumers, on the other hand,- do not rush to buy, understanding that most likely in the nearest future they will be able to get corn at even cheaper prices. Also, importers do not wish to bind to Brazilian corn since there may be some potential problems with its export.

Of no small problem, which is gradually emerging before Brazilian farmers, is lack of storage capacities for generous corn harvest. Since soybean harvest is still standing at the ports and on the road, it is clearly impossible to remove corn from the country promptly. This means that most of the grain will have to be preserved in bulk, which can lead to some catastrophic losses, given that shortly after safrinhi season harvesting is completed- the raining season begins. In many regions this problem is so acute that many farmers plan to even silage their corn.

As a reminder, according to USDA forecasts, Brazil will harvest an unprecedented yield of corn- 76 million tons, which will exceed even previous year’s yield of 74 million tons. Country’s export capacity is still only at 18 million tons due to serious logistics problems.