Observations from Dale Crawford, Sullivan, Ill.
Today I joined Illinois soybean farmers and kicked off our mission with a briefing about the markets at the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange and São Paulo Stock Exchange (BM & F BOVESPA) or Bolsa de Valores, Mercadorias & Futuros de São Paulo www.bmfbovespa.com.br.
The BM & F portion of the exchange is the equivalent of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. BM & F BOVESPA is the fourth largest exchange in the Americas in market capitalization, behind the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange. My impression was that they are stronger on the stock side than the commodities side. Futures are not used on the farmer level yet, but I think they are working on it.
After visiting BM&F/BOVESPA, we flew from São Paulo to Cuiaba, Mato Grosso. It’s kind of like taking off from a 10-million people metropolis and landing in the West. Even from the airport, we felt like we were moving out into the country.
Mato Grosso is the third largest Brazilian state in terms of area and the largest soybean production state. Today we met with APROSOJA, the Associação dos Produtores de Soja do Mato Grosso, or Mato Grosso State Soybean Farmers Association www.aprosoja.com.br.
The association supports the rights and interests of soybean farmers in Mato Grosso, and hopes to further farm profitability and sustainability. This is the sixth meeting between our groups. We’ve been working together for a couple of years, and we are starting to understand each other’s problems and success a little more. There also is starting to be a familiarity between our two groups.
Tomorrow I’m looking forward to seeing actual soybean production and actual farmland, basically a little more agriculture. So far I’m learning a lot and I enjoyed meeting the APROSOJA people tonight.
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