The negative impact of El Niño caused delays in the soybean planting campaign in the Brazilian Midwest, potentially shortening the time frame for planting second-crop corn. It is also expected that this may increase the demand for road freight transport, which will lead to an increase in transport costs, reports DatamarNews .
According to data from the Agricultural Logistics Research Group at the Luis de Queiroz College of Agriculture (EsalqLog), road freight prices in Brazil in early 2024 are expected to be 15-20% higher than the same period a year earlier. Due to the delay in harvesting, the maximum transportation costs are expected to occur in late February-early March of this year, rather than the usual period of early February.
Also, a later soybean harvest will have implications for the corn market, not only because the ideal corn planting window will likely not be met, but also because the delay will increase competition between grain traders and sugar and ethanol mills to ship the grain.
Preliminary corn harvest in Brazil in the year is estimated at 118.5 million tons, which is inferior to the result in 2023 (131.9 million tons).
In addition, EsalqLog experts expressed concern that heavy rains caused by El Nino could jeopardize the operability of Brazil’s ports, as well as make it difficult to access them.