The global market influences soybean and corn prices.

The price of soy and of corn The price traded in Brazil is directly related to international benchmarks, exchange rate fluctuations, and physical market conditions. According to Larissa Aline Mota, an agricultural engineer, understanding this connection helps transform market information into commercial strategy in grain origination.

The CBOT, short for Chicago Board of Trade, is the United States commodities exchange where futures contracts for soybeans, corn, wheat, and other agricultural products are traded. Its prices serve as a global benchmark for grain pricing and reflect supply and demand expectations based on factors such as weather in producing regions, planted area, global stocks, and demand from major buyers.

In the Brazilian market, the Chicago reference price is only one part of the composition. The price received by the producer also considers the premium, which represents adjustments related to local demand, ports, origin and time of year, in addition to the exchange rate, responsible for converting dollars to reais. Transportation costs, storage, taxes and agents' margins complete this calculation.

The CBOT screen displays futures contracts by expiration month, with information such as the last traded price, daily change, high, low, volume, and previous settlement. The codes also identify the product, month, and year. For example, in soybeans, ZS represents the commodity contract, while in corn, ZC is used. The expiration letter indicates the month, and the final numbers show the year of the contract.

Prices are expressed in dollars per bushel, and each contract corresponds to 5,000 bushels. Therefore, monitoring Chicago allows one to understand how global movements reach the Brazilian market and helps explain changes in the commercial conditions offered to producers.