Forecast for soybean harvest in Argentina was reduced to 23.9 million tonnes during the 2022/23 season
Country seeks to review negotiation of US$ 44 billion with IMF, less than a year after the agreement. The historic drought is seen as the responsible for the poor economic performance. Economy Minister Sergio Massa met with IMF Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath to discuss the issue. (Ministry of Economy)
Inflation reaches 104.3% in March, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses. Argentina is at the top of the ranking of the worst inflation rates among G20 memberships. (Indec)
Soybean harvest forecast reduced to 23.9 million tonnes during the 2022/23 season. Average yield was calculated at 1.58 tonne/ha. If confirmed, this will be the lowest yield in 50 years. (USDA)
Authorized extension of soybean shipments for 60 days. A government plan to increase foreign exchange from grain sales is expected. Measure was announced one day after the launch of the new “soybean dollar“, that generated much less transactions than expected. According to Rosario Stock Exchange, “the soybean market has once again shown itself to be discreet and without active buyers”. (Rosario Stock Exchange; Government of Argentina)
Because of agricultural export drop, the flow of dollars into the country decreased, making the shortage of foreign currency an emergency. There are over 15 different exchange rates in Argentina. One of the most important is the black dollar market rate, called blue dollar, that reached a record 400 pesos, almost doubling in just one year. This is an important economic indicator, since a large part of savings is dollarized in the informal market. (BCRA)
ALS Global, multinational company focused on laboratory tests, acquires ASR, local Brazilian company, active in the agrochemical and sanitizing testing, with headquarters in Charqueada, State of São Paulo. (ALS Global; ASR Laboratory)
Researcher Silvia Massruhá will be the new president of Embrapa, through the appointment of the minister of agriculture, Carlos Fávaro. “Silvia meets all requirements and will have my nomination for the presidency of Embrapa, being the first woman to assume the position”, said the minister. (Embrapa; Ministry of Agriculture)
BrasilAgro announced an agreement with TIM Brasil to source 4G internet connectivity for two of its farms in São Raimundo das Mangabeiras, State of Maranhão, covering an area of more than 45 thousand hectares. “The arrival of a quality signal will allow us to move forward with IoT projects, the Internet of Things, connecting machines and equipment that are used in the farms”, said BrasilAgro’s CFO, Gustavo Javier Lopez. (BrasilAgro; Tim Brasil)
Ministry of Agriculture released US$ 210 million for rural insurance in 2023. Resources will be used to support the contracting of approximately 126,000 policies. “Average value of policies has become more expensive in recent years, either because of the increase in price of insured products, such as soybean and corn, or because of adjustments in premium rates, because of the high loss ratio recorded in recent farming seasons”, says the director of the Risk Management Department, Jônatas Pulquério. (MAPA)
BNDES will allocate US$ 490 thousand to support forestry bioeconomy projects in five cities with low socioeconomic indicators in the State of Amazonas: Apuí, Itapiranga, São Sebastião do Uatumã, Lábrea and Carauari. (BNDES)
The Landless Workers Movement – MST invaded the environmental preservation and research area of Embrapa Semiarid, in the State of Pernambuco. According to Embrapa, the occupation causes “considerable damage to producers and family farmers”. (Embrapa)
According to the director of Brasoja, Antônio Sartori, “the real-yuan trade is an utopian dream”. Sartori said that there is no possibility of the Chicago Stock Exchange ceasing to be reference for soybean trading in the world. (Brasoja)
Wild bird hunting season, that was supposed to start in April, was temporarily banned to prevent the spread of avian flu. (Ministry of Agriculture)
13% drop in coffee production in March, because of excessive rainfall, reaching a volume of 799,000 bags, compared to 914,000 bags in March 2022. Exports dropped by 19% in the period. (National Federation of Coffee Growers)
First successful avocado shipments to China. Two containers with 46.8 tonnes of Hass avocados arrived in Shanghai. It arrived in good conditions and could be sold without problems. “Before, containers were sent as tests, but the fruit did not arrive in good condition,” says Carlos Echeverri, commercial manager at fruit exporter Westfalia Fruit Colombia. According to Echeverri, several adaptations were necessary in post-harvest technology, mainly regarding the ethylene used to create a controlled atmosphere inside the containers. (Westfalia Fruit Colombia)
Imports of agricultural products from Brazil grew by 61.2% in 2022, reaching US$ 1.7 billion. Program Against Inflation and Hunger, that started in May 2022, boosted purchases of primary products, establishing suspension and reduction of import tariffs. Most prominent imports were corn, soybean, chicken meat, rice, and eggs, in that order. All, except soybeans, broke records in 2022. (Ministry of Economy)
Drought and incidence of pests put olive farming in the Tacna Region at risk. Researcher Edwin Pino Vargas, from National University Jorge Basadre Grohmann, warns that 100% of evaluated vines showed some type of impairment in their development. The area of plants considered diseased was estimated to be between 42% and 68%. (UNJBG)
Uruguay’s share in world beef exports in 2023 is expected to be lower compared to 2022. The country is expected to export 485,000 tonnes, compared to 513,000 tonnes shipped last year. (Safras & Mercado; USDA)
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