Brazil's Mato Grosso faces storage issues as corn harvest advances

Brazil’s Mato Grosso producers are already dealing with a lack of storage capacity that is more pronounced than usual, especially in the north of the state, market sources have told Agricensus.

With approximately 39 million mt of storage capacity in the state, which is Brazil’s largest grains and oilseeds producer, the space is far from sufficient to accommodate a soybean and corn output expected to be twice as big this year versus the previous marketing year.

Producers have delayed soybean sales since the start of the marketing year in the hopes of getting better prices.

This has increased the challenge to accommodate the 39 million mt of corn expected to be harvested this season, especially more recently as the second corn crop harvest progresses at a fast pace.

"We had a strong start in harvest and the result is corn being stored in silo-bags and even on the floor," Cleiton Gauer, superintendent at the state’s agriculture institute IMEA, stated.

Harvest works reached a completion rate of 35.7% on June 24 in the state, 26 points faster when compared to the previous year and also faster when compared to the previous five years’ average of 24.6%.

“This is still a punctual issue, but it can become a more serious problem if the runoff does not accelerate,” he added.

Amid uncertainties about the soybean market, Brazilian producers from Mato Grosso have around 8.5 million mt of soybeans left to trade – considering only the volume still in the producer’s hands - according to IMEA’s data.

The most recent data from the institute published early this month shows that 78% of the soybean crop, estimated at 40.5 million mt, has already been sold, which compares to 88.2% sold at the same point in the previous year.

Corn sales are also behind year-on-year and reached 61.01% in June, compared to 77.34% at the same point last year.

According to Brazil’s soybean producers’ association Aprosoja, Mato Grosso needs to expand its static capacity to 125 million tons until 2030 to keep up with the increase in production.