BRAZIL AG MINISTER SAYS AUCTION TO IMPORT RICE ‘NOT NECESSARY’
The Brazilian government will no longer need to buy imported rice, Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro told a local TV channel on Wednesday, after the plan attracted flak from local farmers. Last month, Brazil’s national crop agency Conab canceled the results, opens new tab of a controversial rice auction over doubts about the winners’ financial capability to honor their commitments. The government said then it would hold a new auction to purchase imported rice, but stopped short. In last month’s rare auction, Brazil had committed to purchase 263,370 metric tons of imported rice for 1.32 billion reais ($57.6 million). The goal was to prevent a price hike after historic floods in the top producing state Rio Grande do Sul, disrupted harvesting of crops like corn and soy.
(Link: Reuters)
USDA ACREAGE REPORT OFFERS SURPRISES
In its June 28 Acreage report, the USDA estimated area planted to corn in 2024 at 91.475 million acres. Catching the market off guard, September corn futures tumbled 3.6% after the acreage data was released, bringing the contract from its recent high in May at $4.81¾ per bushel down more than 15% to its June 28 close of $4.07½ per bushel. In the June Acreage report, the USDA estimated the area planted to soybeans this year at 86.1 million acres, up 3% from 83.6 million acres in 2023.
The USDA also said 47.24 million acres were planted to all wheat, down 5% from 49.575 million acres planted in 2023. But the USDA forecast harvested area at 38.785 million acres, up 4% from the estimated 37.272 million acres harvested in 2023. Estimated winter wheat planted area was 33.805 million acres, down about 1% from the prior estimate. Of the total, the hard red winter estimate was 24.1 million acres. The USDA estimated the area planted to spring wheat other than durum at 11.27 million acres, up 0.6% from 2023, including hard red spring at 10.6 million acres.
(Link: WorldGrain)
