Tidbits
Rain has fallen in many of the dry areas or Brazil’s crop area, but not as much as predicted a few days ago. Many areas expected heavy rains, but received sprinkles or none. No one expects the weather to return to a normal rainy season. Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso received half a mm of rain yesterday. Daytime high temperature was 106°F (41°C).
Brazil’s corn plus freight to Asia is more expensive than US corn plus freight shipped from the PNW. For soybeans, Brazil is still the most competitive, but the advantage for Feb dropped from $1 per bushel to 70¢ at delivery. Keep in Mind Brazil’s beans are 14% moisture.
The hard-core conservative and self-claimed libertarian presidential candidate, Javier Milei, won Argentina’s run-off election yesterday, throwing great uncertainty into the political and financial fall-out. What impact will his election have on Argentine agricultural products? Nobody knows, but in the short run, it will be friendly for farm products because farmers in Argentina will wait to sell until they get an indication of what is going to happen.