Brazil soy planting seen at slowest pace in eight years -AgRural – Reuters

27 de novembro 2023 | Na Mídia, Reuters

Brazil’s 2023/24 soybean planting had reached 74% of the expected area as of Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, making it the slowest progress for the period in eight years as the country grapples with bad weather.

Sowing was up 6 percentage points from the previous week but continued to lag far behind last year’s levels, when 87% of the areas had been planted at the same time, and is now the slowest since 2015/16.

AgRural said in a statement that progress last week was capped by excessive humidity in Brazil’s southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul, even as some needed rainfall was registered in center-northern states.

The South American country, the world’s largest soybean producer and exporter, has seen farmers struggle with low humidity and high temperatures in center-northern areas while southern states face excessive rains.

The bad weather led several consultancies to cut their forecasts for 2023/24 soybean output last week, though analysts still expect the country to produce a record crop.

AgRural currently projects this season’s crop to total 163.5 million metric tons, down from a previous estimate of 164.6 million tons, but has not ruled out fresh cuts due to the adverse weather conditions.

“More showers and better rainfall distribution are necessary in the short term to allow planting to continue and limit yield losses,” the consultancy said.

AgRural also reported that farmers in center-south Brazil have planted 83% of the area expected for their first 2024 corn crop, up from 80% a week ago but below the 88% registered a year earlier.