Brazil’s seaborne exports of soybeans have dropped significantly while costs to ship the commodity overseas have risen, according to the US government. The country exported 32.1 MMT of soybeans during the second quarter, down from 42.1 MMT during the same period last year, a US Department of Agriculture report showed.

China imported 20.5 MMT of those soybeans during the three-month period, down from 28.8 MMT a year ago. The next highest shares of Brazil’s soybean exports, in declining order, went to Spain, the Netherlands, Thailand and Turkey. The southern ports of Santos, Rio Grande, Paranagua and Sao Francisco account for 73% of Brazil’s soybean exports to China, the report said. But the cost to ship the commodity on the ocean from Brazil to other parts of the world went up during the second quarter compared to the same period of last year, the report indicated.

For example, the average freight rate to export soybeans from Santos, Brazil, to Shanghai rose to $65.75 per tonne during the quarter from $50.60 per tonne during the same period in 2021. Demand for bulkers that usually carry soybeans from Brazil to China also boosted freight rates during the second quarter from a year ago.

For example, the cost to ship grain from Santos to Qingdao stayed around $70 per tonne for most of the second quarter to reach a high of $71.077 per tonne on 20 June, according to Baltic Exchange data. A year earlier, the price fell as low as $44.40 per tonne on 12 April before slowly reaching a second-quarter high of $69.364 per tonne on 30 June.