Brazil’s soybean harvest kicks off with low yields in Mato Grosso

Brazilian soybean farmers have begun to reap their 2023/24 soybean crop, covering some 0.6% of the national planted area as of last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday.

Field work is more advanced in top grain state Mato Grosso, where yields “are much lower than normal” after hot and dry weather destroyed part of the crop. In large producer Parana state, the yields are “very good and in line with farmers’ expectations,” AgRural said.

At this time last season, 0.04% of Brazil’s soybean had been harvested, AgRural said.

Goias and Mato Grosso do Sul have started reaping their soy from fields in isolated areas, according to the consultancy.

In Mato Grosso, where crops suffered from a lack of humidity for much of the cycle, rains now are making it difficult for harvesters to advance in some areas, as is common in January, AgRural noted.

Last year, AgRural forecast Brazil would produce 159 million tons of soybeans this season, but it said it will revise that projection in coming days.

At least two consultancies have said the outlook worsened for Brazil’s soy crop in January, sharply lowering output forecasts to between 151 million tons and 153 million tons.

The harvest of Brazil’s first corn crop, which is planted in the summer, reached 3.3% of the cultivated area in the Center-South last week, compared to 2.3% in the same period last year, AgRural said.

As soy is being reaped from fields, planters have began to sow Brazil’s second-corn in Parana state, AgRural said. Second corn is planted after soybeans and represents about 75% of national corn production depending on the year.

In Mato Grosso, farmers’ priority at the moment is the sowing of second-season cotton, which has a shorter climate window, though the start of second corn planting is imminent, AgRural said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Ana Mano; Editing by Steven Grattan and Bill Berkrot)