SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazilian soybean sales continued to lag as
international prices stumbled on Tuesday, according to soy industry
participants.

  The Chicago Board of Trade September soy contract tumbled 86 cents, or 7.8%
lower, at $10.14 per bushel on Tuesday, after falling 35 3/4 cents on Monday.

  "With prices falling, most farmers aren't willing to sell their beans," a
chief trader at a major U.S. soy buyer said.

  "Although we managed to purchase 2,000 [metric] tons of [2008-09] soybeans
from Mato Grosso state on Tuesday, trade is almost at a standstill," the trader
said.

  Most Brazilian farmers have already sold the bulk of their 2008-09 beans and
are unwilling to fix prices for the new 2009-10 crop at current prices, the
trader said.

  Brazilian agricultural consultancy Celeres on Tuesday said that the coming
2009-10 soy crop is 13% sold as of Aug. 28, compared with 11% a week earlier
and steady with a five-year average.

  Brazil's soy farmers also have sold 91% of their old 2008-09 soybean crop as
of Aug. 28, up one percentage point from a week earlier, said Celeres.

  Trade should pick up in January, when the first beans start to arrive from
Mato Grosso state, Brazil's No. 1 soy producer, he said. Brazil is currently in
its soy inter-harvest period.

  Aedson Pereira, an analyst at consultancy AgraFNP in Sao Paulo, said that a
double blow of lower international soy prices and an unfavorable forex dampened
trade this week.

  The Brazilian real has strengthened against the dollar by over 20% since
mid-March. One dollar rose to BRL1.90 on Tuesday.

  A few local crushers have been willing to buy soy, but trade is in small
volumes, Pereira said.

  Buyers were offering 120 cents over the September soy futures contract on
CBOT Tuesday, while sellers wanted 140 cents over the same contract with little
trade being done, Pereira said.

  Steve Cachia, analyst at consultancy Cerealpar, said that soybeans were being
traded in the spot market at around BRL49.50 per 60-kilogram bag at Paranagua,
the main grain port. This compared to BRL49.50 per bag on Monday and BRL51 per
bag on Friday, he said.

  Brazilian farmers had hoped that recent frost warnings in the U.S. would have
helped to push up prices, but the weather forecast currently looks good for
crop development, Cachia said.

  Cropcast Weather Services said Tuesday's 15-30 day outlook calls for above
normal temperatures in the U.S. northern and eastern Midwest, with frost risks
low in the central and U.S. eastern Midwest.

  As a result, Brazilian farmers will hold onto their beans for target prices
of around $10.50 per bushel, he said.

  Brazil is the world's No. 2 soy producer, after the U.S.