As the Brazilian soybean harvest has progressed well, prices on the world market have fallen slightly since the beginning of March.
This is despite the increased production of vegetable oil, for which more sales is possible because more is used for biofuel. Vegetable oil is currently expensive, but prices are unlikely to rise much further due to the extra production of soybean oil. The supply of palm oil from Southeast Asia is also increasing seasonally.
When reporting on the expected corn and soybean acreage in the US came at the end of March, the prices of soybeans and corn on the futures market in Chicago peaked. Not that there was a drop in expected production next season, but acreage is expanding much less than USDA market analysts expected, according to the Department of Agriculture, citing the very high price levels of recent months. Although American growers are going to put more soy and corn, they are still seeing bread in millet and wheat. The acreage of rapeseed (canola), a minor crop in the US, is growing by 16% to 860,000 hectares.
In Europe it is quite cold for this time of year in a number of regions. It can even damage the rapeseed from frost, according to market agency Agritel. The supply of rapeseed appears to be moderate. The crop is in bad shape and the main producing countries France and Germany have reduced acreage this season.