F.A.Q.

The product is sent from the farms to temporary storage in a storage unit where the product is classified, cleaned and dried.

Then the soybeans or corn are shipped to the harbour in a combination of trucks, rail and river. Mostly by trucks - river and rail never by itself. We are excited by the new river transport from Tocantins to the ocean as it will be cheaper and much more efficient.

Samples of the product are taken while it grows. NON GMO Soybeans are tested by independent laboratories after harvest. All soybeans are tested before loading on the ships. Other products may be treated differently.
We are often asked for samples or test of our soybean. We can provide this. But consider: This will rarely be the product the client will actually receive unless it is small quantity that is sitting in our storage. The product sent to the client is often not even planted yet. If it is a large quantity the product will come from many different farms and storage units.

Usually the 40 ft. container is not a big gain in relation to 20 feet containers. This is because the 40 ft. containers can not be filled as they have a max. weight close to the 20 feet containers. However, shipping lines often prefer 40ft containers to Asia.
Some clients only want to receive 20 ft containers because of shipping at the destination by truck.

• 20 ft packed
• 20 ft bulk - 23 metric tons of soybean
• 40 ft packed
• 40 ft bulk - up to 27 metric tons of soybean

The cheapest is bulk. All the others are put in relation to bulk.
In bags the product becomes more expensive because because of loading and the bags themselves.
Please contact os for the exact pricing.

Container
• 20 ft packed
• 20 ft bulk
• 40 ft packed
• 40 ft bulk

Ship hold
• Bulk
• Small bags - up to 60 kg
• Big bags

The Stowage factor is the cubic meters necessary for one ton of product. Approximate numbers:

• Soybeans bulk - 1.4
• Soybean packed - 1.6
• Corn bulk - 1.3 to 1.5
• Corn packed - 1.6
• Soymeal bulk - 1.8

FOB means "free on board" and is our preferred way of working. We will cover all costs concerning transport from our land and the certified product on board the ship in a number of ports in Brazil. The buyer assumes the cost and risk of further transport.

We assume all costs and risk from our land to the port of destiny. We will do this if pressured, but it entails a lot more work. Please bear in mind we are not a shipping company and prefer to concentrate on the farming.
C&F is CIF without insurance.

CFR/C&F is CIF without insurance.

Ex-works - directly from the farm or storage unit. This term represents the seller's minimum obligation, since he only has to place the goods at the disposal of the buyer. The buyer must carry out all tasks of export & import clearance. Carriage & insurance is to be arranged by the buyer.

Our products are only shipped from Brazilian ports. The nearest is around 1500 kilometers from us. The usual ports are:

• Port of Itaqui
• Port of Maranhao
• Port of Cotegipe Bahia
• Port of Suape (Pernambuco - close to Recife)
• Santos (bulk and containers - point of exit for all containers sent from Brazil to Asia)
• But we can send our product for shipping to different ports as well

The loading capacity for bulk soybean is 1500 - 1800 tons per hour for all these ports. So a ship with 30,000 tons capacity would take roughly 20 hours to fill up from empty.

The market quotes (CBOT and local) definitely have a weight. Basically we need to make a fair profit. Our costs are many:

• Preparation of the land, planting, treatment while growing, harvesting, certification, transport, drying and storage, more transport, harbor storage, loading and more certification. To this comes amongst others: risk, financing, insurance and fixed costs. It all adds up. Here in Brazil we have both advantages and disadvantages compared to competing countries. One of our disadvantages are the high costs of transport to the port. We pay up to 4 times more than in Argentina and the USA.
• Let us know if you want to share some of the costs up front. We can then plant for you and we will be able to give you a very favorable price.

Look at the documents page. There we have specifications for our most sold products. You are always welcome to contact us for details.

Perhaps. We live up to Brazilian standards and not everything can be changed. You could ask for blue corn in squares and we would have to decline. You could ask for max 11% humidity for soybeans and we would do that for an extra cost, as it means more time drying which then leads to a weight loss of the product
But generally speaking, we prefer and advice to stay within industry standards.
Furthermore, due to the way the soybean industry works in Brazil, we mostly sell group number 2 yellow soybean - also called export quality. Similar restrictions exist for other products.

The stand specification for soybean is export quality Brazilian soybean group 2. It is defined by Brazilian legislation and is somewhat equivalent to US grade #2.
It is generally the specification for soybean exported from Brazil. It is based on contracts from ANEC - Associação Nacional dos Exportadores de Cereais - you can see the contracts here: http://www.anec.com.br/pt-br/servicos/contratos
Generally speaking, Brazilian soybean will have less split kernels and more protein content than US grade #2 as the Brazilian soybean is transshipped less and the climate is better here.
There is a possibility to adjust the quality specs of the soybean. But in such large quantities, where part of the soybean come from other producers, we can only make guarantees according to the standard specification. At the most we can make minute adjustments.
However, Brazil is the largest of soybean exporter in the world and it is used successfully to make soybean meal and oil in many countries - especially China.

All our majour specifications are on our website documentation

Specifically for GMO soybean Soybean GMO specification Some customers nearly always ask for high/higher/different protein content.

Protein
We guaranteee protein content: Basis: 35%, minimum 34,5% - and not more - this is non negotiable.

All things equal, Brazilian soybean will on an average have more protein than American soybean due to a better climate - but it changes from region to region from year to year.

Brazilian Yellow Soybeans
The above soybean is known as Brazilian Yellow Soybean Group 2, export quality, standard type, and is a soybean used for crushing world wide
This is defined by Brazilian legislation

American Yellow Soybean grade #2
It is somewhat equivalent to American Yellow Soybean grade #2. Here are the American specifications.

Changing specification
We can to some small degree at an additional cost change the specification. The most common changes are:
- humidity (a little bit lower at a higher price per ton)
- split beans (maximum 20% - never less)

Brazilian Yellow Soybean Group 1, type 1 and 2
This is a higher quality and more expensive soybean which only is available in smaller quantities. We can produce this if asked to do so. It is somewhat equivalent to American Yellow Soybean Grade #1.
Group 1, type 1 may be used for direct human consumption as is (in natura)
If you are interested we can send the specification (also in the link above concerning legislation - but in Brazilian)

ANEC
The Brazilan National Association of Cereal Exporters is the most important association in Brazil for soybean and corn exporters. We closely follow their standards and somewhat the contracts. You can see the contracts and specifications here

When we sell a product like soybeans, the price is usually related to the CBOT quote. That quote is always in US dollars. But the internal pricing and costs in Brasil is in the Real, the Brazilian currency. If the dollar goes up, we will get at better price. OTOH machines and pesticides are likely to cost more. Vice versa if the Real goes up in relation to the dollar.

1200 Km by road, but we have some possibilities of using rail and river transport partway.

We have land in 10 separate locations. 5 in Tocantins, 1 in Bahia, 1 in Mato Grosso and 3 in Maranhao. We are always looking for more good land and we are in the proecess of buying more.

For soybeans the CBOT price is given in US Cents per bushel. One bushel of soybeans is defined to be 60 pounds. 60 pounds is ,45359 kg. There are 36,7439 bushels in a Metric ton.
The formula is thus: 36,7439 * CBOT / 100

For corn the CBOT price is also given in US cents per bushel. But a bushel of corn is defined to be 56 pounds. There is consequently 39,3685 bushels in a metric ton.
The formula is thus: 39,3685 * CBOT / 100

For soybeans meal the CBOT price is given in USD per short ton. A short ton is 2000 pounds.
The formula is thus: CBOT / 2000 * 2204,6341

Check these two pages for more information on calculations and quotes: Weights and Measures and Market Quotes

In order to produce soybeans we work with these cycles:

• 1. Preparation of the land
• 2. Planting
• 3. Growth
• 4. Harvesting
• 5. Delivery

The wet season in Tocantins is from October to May. It is in this period we grow and harvest our crops. Soybeans are planted from the 25th of October into November/December. The exact timing has to do with factors such as climate, type of soybean, time, ressources, and an eventual second crop. Soybean takes 90 to 130 days to mature depending on the variety. The harvest will be from February to March with delivery from March into April.

If a second crop of corn is necessary then a precocious variety of soybean (90 days) with early planting is chosen. Thus corn is planted right away after the harvest of soybean. The crop rotation is actually good for the land.

If using irrigation we can plant any time of the year outside of the legal moratorium and we can handle three crops per year. It will never be the same crop three times, as crops need to be alternated with other crops. Anyway, we only have irrigation available on a small areas for now.