Brazil’s 2023/24 soybean planting had reached as of last Thursday 51% of the expected area, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, up 11 percentage points from the previous week.
Sowing continues to lag behind last year’s levels, when 57% of the areas had been planted at the same time, and the current pace represents the slowest for the period since2020/21, AgRural said in a statement.
The consultancy noted that the slower planting was related to adverse weather conditions in some of the country’s top grain producing areas, including the states of Mato Grosso and Parana.
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Center-western Mato Grosso state has been going through a “predominantly dry” period, AgRural said, although some irregular rainfall allowed farmers to plant more last week than in the previous one.
“Even so, several areas are still suffering from low humidity, and that reinforces the need for replanting,” the consultants said, “with a consequent negative impact on the planting window for the second corn crop.”
Parana state in southern Brazil, they added, was the “lowlight” of last week. Ironically, the state has faced exactly the opposite of Mato Grosso, as excessive showers have disrupted sowing there.
“Intense rains and floods caused damage and the need for replanting in southwestern and central-southern Parana,” AgRural said.
The consultancy also reported that farmers in center-south Brazil have planted 66% of the area expected for their first 2024 corn crop, up from 53% a week ago and above the 63% registered a year earlier.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Steven Grattan)
