AgRural calls Brazil 2017/2018 crop at new record of 116m mt

Brazil-based consultancy AgRural has revised upwards its projection of the nation’s soybean harvest to 116.2 million mt, according to a weekly update published Friday.

The fresh record is 2.2 million mt higher than the consultant’s previous estimate of 114 million mt and is based on higher yields expected in the key producing state of Parana as well as most other states.

It also said the harvest was now 20.5% complete in the biggest producing state of Mato Grosso

“As a result, Brazilian average productivity rose from 54.6 sacks per hectare in January to 55.8 sacks in February - still slightly below the record of 56.1 sacks per hectare of the 2016/17 crop,” the consultants said.

If the number is confirmed, Brazil will post a new production record, surpassing the 114.1 million tons of the 2016/17 harvest.

The 2017/18 crop area is estimated at 34.7 million hectares, up 2.4% on the year before.

The revision comes a few days after influential private forecaster Cordonnier revised his estimate of Brazil's harvest up 1 million mt to 112 million mt.

The news comes despite earlier reports this week that some harvests were reporting empty pods in Parana, which last year produced 18 million mt, 16% of the total crop.

In terms of corn, AgRural said that the planting of the second crop reached 10.6% in the Center-South area on Thursday, behind 13.6% last year, but in line with the 10% of the average of five years.

Mato Grosso leads, with 24.3%, followed by Goiás (1.2%), Minas Gerais (0.5%) and Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul (0.4% each).

In Rio Grande do Sul, the summer corn harvest reached 6.6%, in line with the 6.2% from last year and below 8.1% of the five-year average. The other states that already have started harvesting are Santa Catarina (4%) and Paraná (0.2%).