Brazilian farmers are taking advantage of a favorable combination of rising global soy prices and a weak local currency to close record volumes of forward sales for the 2016-17 crop, traders and analysts said.
According to analyst Informa Economics FNP, 16 percent to 17 percent of the crop that will be planted starting in September has already been sold, compared to just 4.7 percent of the previous crop sold at this time last year.
A record 2015-16 soy crop, already harvested in the main soy-growing regions of the world's second-largest producer, is 65.3 percent sold, according to Informa.
Forward sales of the next year's crop are also occurring earlier than normal, experts said.
A broker in top growing state Mato Grosso said some farmers are also bartering their future crop in exchange for fertilizers, pesticides and seeds, taking advantage of falling fertilizer prices.
Soy prices, meanwhile, are rising. The March 2017 soy futures contract in Chicago touched a 16-month high this week on concerns over flood damage in Argentina, the world's No 3 soy exporter.
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