(Bloomberg) -- Brazil, the world’s biggest soybean exporter, may import as much as 1 million metric tons from its main rival in global sales in a twist of the topsy-turvy trade row between the U.S. and China.
As American soybean shipments to China ease, they’re being discounted. At the same time, rising demand for Brazilian beans has exports fetching a premium, leaving reduced supplies for domestic processors. That means some buyers in Brazil may need to rely on farmers in Iowa rather than Mato Grosso.
“This is close to making sense in financial terms,” Luis Barbieri, an adviser at Anec, a Brazilian grain-export group, said Thursday at a press conference in Sao Paulo. Processors close to southern ports in Rio Grande and Paranagua are evaluating imports that may reach 500,000 tons to 1 million tons this year, he said.
Amid the rally in Brazilian soybeans, profit for exporters may trail estimates by 10 percent to 30 percent, partly because of higher road-freight expenses, Barbieri said. A 10-day strike by the nation’s truckers in May over high fuel costs delayed shipments and paralyzed the oilseed industry.
Transportation to ports currently is running normally, Barbieri said. Forward sales for the 2018-19 season have halted.
Anec represents companies Cargill Inc., Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. and Louis Dreyfus.
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