South America Calling

Drier weather allowed Brazilian soybean harvesting to progress well during Easter week, reaching 67% complete as of Thursday, said AgRural, a local farm consultancy.

Fieldwork moved forward 6 percentage points and is slightly behind the 69% registered at the same point last year.

The focus of attentions is currently the frontier region of Matopiba in the eastern Cerrado, where a dry February has brought forward the soybean cycle.

In Maranhao, harvesting was 34% complete, in line with the 35% registered at the same stage last year despite planting delays of up to a month.

In Piaui, harvesting is 20% complete compared with 10% last year. In Bahia, where there are reports of crops reaching maturity 20 days ahead of schedule, harvesting is 30% complete ahead of 20% last year.

The dry weather has meant another year of poor crops in the region with yields of 27 to 31 bushels per acre commonly registered for early crops in the region.

In Mato Grosso, the No. 1 soy state, harvesting is now 92% complete with late soy yields disappointing due to whitefly attacks and a lack of rain, AgRural reported. In Nova Mutum, center-north of the state, average yields of 43 bpa are expected, while in Rondonopolis, in the south of the state, averages of around 47 bpa are seen.

In the No. 2 soy state of Parana, farmers seized on breaks in the rain to resume harvesting, which reached 88% complete. In Maringa, in the west of the state, late soy is registering average yields of 37 bpa.

In Goias, harvesting is 89% complete compared with 81% at the same stage last year with drier weather helping at the tail end of the season.

Harvesting remains slow in Rio Grande do Sul, with just 10% of the crop collected, well behind the 31% registered at the same time last year due to the heavy rains in March.

(AG)

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