Brazil’s soybean harvest for the 2023/24 cycle had reached 84% of the planted area as of Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, up 6 percentage points from the previous week. The figure was below the 86% seen at the same time a year earlier.
AgRural analysts said in a statement that harvesting is now concentrated in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, where farmers had accelerated work before heavy rains expected this week, as well as in the Northeastern states of Bahia and Piaui. So far, productivity in Rio Grande do Sul is very good, according to the consultancy firm.
AgRural also said Brazil’s second corn crop, which represents about 75% of the national production each year, had last week seen rains in regions in which the crop had been struggling due to high temperatures and lack of regular rainfall in areas like the states of Parana, Sao Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul.
However, the showers were not well distributed and worries remain over the crop, especially in Parana’s western and Sao Paulo’s southern areas, according to AgRural.
Second-corn crop in Mato Grosso, Goias and Minas Gerais states had been developing really well and rains expected for the second half of April raised expectations of a good cycle in these states, especially in areas where farmers had planted their fields earlier in the season, it added. Brazil’s second corn crop is planted after soybeans are harvested from the same fields. Planting was finalized last month.