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Using AgFlow to Analyze CONAB Reports

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Jun 28, 2021 | Commodity Trading 101

Reading time: 4 minutes

The Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento (CONAB)—or in English the National Supply Company—produces all governmental agricultural and livestock commodities material, including on-demand analysis and monthly reports containing supply and demand statistics per crop in spreadsheet format. As such, CONAB reports are ideal for building balance sheets for Brazilian commodities.

This source of information is exceptionally reliable regarding Brazilian crops as it stems from the Brazilian government. However, since their reports are only Portuguese,  the data is difficult to use for non-Portuguese-speaking readers.

AgFlow built a tool supporting CONAB data to simplify access to these reports, allowing people with no Portuguese knowledge to obtain this data and build balance sheets by cutting down the work required.

CONAB Reports Metrics on AgFlow

Beginning Stock (in mt):

The Beginning Stock statistic is the volume of the crop available in stock at the beginning of the marketing year, as reported at the time. This statistic is important to know how much carryover will be added to the production.

Production (in mt):

The Production is the total weight (often called volume) of crops harvested. This is the measure of the direct local crop supply, excluding beginning stock and imports.

Imports (in mt):

Imports are the total amount of a given crop imported by Brazil from other exporting countries. This is an important statistic as it can help understand the local consumption and export strategies.

Consumption (in mt):

The Consumption metric considers all forms of local consumption, both for food, seed, industrial products for human consumption, and animal feed.

Exports (in mt):

Exports are the total volume of goods for a given crop being sold and shipped to other countries from Brazil.

Ending Stock (in mt):

The Ending Stock is the expected crop volume available at the end of the marketing year. Therefore, it equals the Total Supply (consisting in the Beginning Stock, Production, and Imports), minus the Consumption and Exports. Its purpose is to calculate the following year’s Beginning Stock and estimate whether supply lines are ample or tight.

The information CONAB provides in these reports is available on AgFlow and updated monthly. Additionally, the AgFlow tool also offers additional features making it easy to compare and analyze data.

Use CONAB Data to Compare With Your WASDE Analysis of Brazilian Crops

Free & Unlimited Access In Time

How Does AgFlow Display CONAB Reports Metrics?

AgFlow’s tool displays the statistics available in CONAB reports with seven years of historical data. However, the tool’s functionality goes beyond simply displaying the data.

The first step is to select a commodity to generate the data, which then displayed in a table using the past seven years, including the current marketing year, of data for each statistic. Additionally, AgFlow provides the average value of each statistic for the period.

Furthermore, the table allows users to select any combination of up to three different statistics to instantly display an intuitive time-series line graph, allowing them to read and understand trends better.

Other sources available in the tool also let users compare and complete analysis with different datasets.

Use CONAB Data to Compare With Your WASDE Analysis of Brazilian Crops

Free & Unlimited Access In Time

AgFlow Tool & CONAB Reports In a Nutshell

The CONAB reports contain much information about Brazilian crops’ Supply and Demand. However, it is principally a local source of information as it is difficult to approach for non-Portuguese speakers.

The AgFlow supply and demand tool then provides access to these statistics and allows direct comparison and analysis of the data thanks to:

  • A table with all the CONAB statistics for the past seven years and the addition of the average value for each over the period
  • An intuitive time-series line graph instantly generated for any combination of up to three statistics in the table

The first version of the tool currently available is updated with every monthly CONAB report and is then called static supply and demand.

The future second version of the tool will provide a more timely, accurate, and global vision of Supply and Demand. This new dynamic supply and demand tool will include daily AIS shipment lineups, quality metrics, prices, and other datasets to compare with reports like the CONAB one. Consequently, It will enhance tracking daily commodities flux, unveiling correlations between statistics, and even predicting global balance sheets moves.

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