Brazil’s Real Hammers South Africa’s Rand in Commodities Play

  • Rand has slumped to 22-month low against Brazil’s currency
  • Real benefiting from demand for agricultural commodities

Soybeans are harvested on a farm near Brasilia, Brazil.

Photographer: Andressa Anholete/Bloomberg
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South Africa’s rand has slumped to its weakest level in 22 months against Brazil’s real as agricultural commodities move into the forefront of the raw-materials boom.

The real is this year’s best-performing major emerging-market currency, and has proved resilient during this week’s selloff stoked by an increasingly hawkish Federal Reserve. By contrast, the rand has almost wiped out the year’s gains in one week.