SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazil's soybean farmers chose to hold on tostocks over the last week, largely ignoring gains in local andinternational prices, traders said."You always get a little business but farmers are now inclined to waitto see how far prices will rise," said David Brew of the PortoAlegre-based Brasoja brokerage.At the port of Paranagua, soybeans were trading at 44.00 to 44.50Brazilian reals per 60-kilogram bag ($1=BRL2.95) on Thursday, rising fromBRL41.50 to BRL42.50 last week.Gains would have been greater were it not for the strengthening of theBrazilian real, quoted at 2.95 to the dollar on Thursday compared with2.99 some seven days before.Farmers appear not to have a strike price at which they are willing tosell, traders said. Rather, they are waiting to see the extent of thelosses to the U.S. crop and then calculate possible gains, said SteveCachia of the Curitiba-based Cerealpar brokerage.Farmers will probably begin to sell more of their crop once the billsfor next-crop inputs start coming due in September, Brasojas Brew added.Traders registered exports of just 180,000 metric tons in the firsthalf of August, well down from the 478,000 tons sold in the previous 15days and down from the 651,000 tons sold over the same period last year.Farmers are also reticent about selling next years crop. Brazil'sproducers had sold just 4% of their potential-record 2004-05 soybean crop(October-September) up to last Friday compared with 21% at the same stagelast year, according to local agricultural consultants Celeres.Business was strongest at port over the last two days.Discounts for September soybean shipments from Paranagua againstSeptember soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade stood at 65 centsto 75 cents over during the past week, compared with $0.50 to $0.60 perbushel quoted the week before.After six months of record discounts in the post-harvest period,stronger demand from Asia is bolstering strong premiums, traders said."And with farmers holding out to sell, this situation may continueinto the start of next year," said one Sao Paulo-based trader.