BRASIL/ CHINA: Beijing's Lust For Soy Farmland Unnerves Brasilia.

NYTIMES/ A. Barrioneuvo/ 2 screen read combined

NYT:     "Even as Brazil, Argentina and other nations move to impose limits on farmland purchases by foreigners, the Chinese are seeking to more directly control production themselves, taking their nation’s fervor for agricultural self-sufficiency overseas.
“They are moving in,” said Carlo Lovatelli, president of the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries. “They are looking for land, looking for reliable partners. But what they would like to do is run the show alone.”
AND: A "...$7 billion agreement signed last month — to produce six million tons of soybeans a year — is one of several struck in recent weeks as China hurries to shore up its food security and offset its growing reliance on crops from the United States by pursuing vast tracts of Latin America’s agricultural heartland"

PARAGUAY: Economy...Led By Soybeans...BOOMED By 15.3%...In 2010.

M.PRESS

   Rapidly increasing agriculture prices helped Paraguay set a new growth record... 15.3% GDP in 2010...following a 3.8% contraction in 2009.
   “If the climate is good we can have an extraordinary performance which explains this year’s leap...We started 2010 with an estimate of 6%, later 9%, then 14% and now 15.3%, which anyhow we will review next month”, said an official.
    Paraguay is the world's No. 4 soybean exporter and important beef seller.
    Its central bank forecasts 2011 growth of... 4%.

ARGENTINA: Continued Rain/ Fungal Rot Threatens Soy Crop Harvest.

BLOOMBERG/     A record soybean crop is threatened by recent heavy rains.
“If it continues to rain, it will be difficult for farmers to harvest,” said a farm official. “Also, if it doesn’t stop raining, fungal diseases which affect pods may spread to the beans and could lower yields.” Argentina is the third largest soybean producer after the U.S. and Brasil.

Experts Predict Record Brasil Soybean Crop.

BLOOMBERG/
Brasil, the second biggest soybean producer after the U.S., may harvest a record soybean crop next year as farmers stay away from planting corn after prices plunged.
Above-average rains in major producing regions will also help boost yields for soybean crops that growers started planting this month.“We’re expecting a really big crop,” Gonzalo Terracini said. “Rains are helping.”

El Nino Brings Rain Hope To Argentina's Soybean Crop.

BLOOMBERG.
Argentina may produce as much as 50 million tons of soybeans in its next harvest as rains created by El Nino break the worst drought in a century.