EN 
PT_BR 
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's soybean exports in March exceeded 10 million tonnes in the month to date and, with a daily average increase of 25%, shipments are expected to easily surpass the volumes recorded in the same period last year, the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) said on Monday.
In March of last year, soybean exports from Brazil, the world's largest producer and exporter, totaled 12.6 million tons.
The daily average of exports is 788.5 thousand tons, compared to 630 thousand tons/day in March last year, when Brazil felt the effects of a crop failure due to drought.
Stronger exports in March come after a slower start to the year after Brazil's soybean harvest was delayed. This month, work in the fields picked up, boosting supplies from what will be a record crop.
Corn shipments on a daily average practically tripled compared to the same period last year, with 62.9 thousand tons.
With this, the total corn exported until the third week of March amounted to around 820 thousand tons, almost double the 427.3 thousand tons registered in the entire month last year.
The volumes of corn exported, however, are relatively small compared to the total shipped monthly in the second half of the year, when the cereal gains more space in the ports, after a large part of the soybeans has been shipped.
Coffee shipments, on a daily average, have so far increased by 22.3% compared to March last year, to 12.7 thousand tons per day.
In cotton, the increase is 10.2% for the daily average to 13.9 thousand tons.
On the other hand, Brazil's sugar exports are on track to end the month with a year-on-year decline, as the sector goes through the off-season. On a daily average, the annual drop is 32%, to 90.6 thousand tons per day.
(By Roberto Samora)
