RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil’s soy exports so far this year have already outstripped last year’s total, according to official figures released on Monday.
Through mid-August, the world’s top soy exporter shipped some 53.37 million tons of the grain aboard, topping 2016’s total of 51.58 million tons, the Agriculture Ministry reported.
The increase follows a bumper crop of 114 million tons in the 2016/17 season, compared with the 95.4 million tons harvested in the previous period, which was affected by drought.
Annual soy exports could surpass the 54.3-million-ton record set in 2015, the government projected.
The Brazilian Vegetable Oil Industry Association is even more optimistic, forecasting that exports will reach 64 million tons.
Brazilian news website Globo said the increase puts a burden on the country’s export infrastructure, noting that in the next few months, nearly 10 million tons of soy will have to “compete for space” against corn at shipping terminals.
“Some analysts point to that factor as one of the reasons why cereal shipments are still not faster,” the Globo said.
The South American country is the world’s second largest exporter of corn, after the United States, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.
