Brazil's Parana soybean and corn yield prospects continue to decline: Deral

The soybean harvest in Brazil's southern state of Parana is expected to intensify in the coming weeks, but unfavorable weather conditions continued to jeopardize yield prospects, increasing costs and lowering the prices received by producers, the state agency Deral warned Tuesday.

The 2023/24 soybean harvest advanced six percentage points in the week ending on February 5, to cover 25% of the 5.8 million hectares (ha) projected area.

At the same point last year, about 2% of the projected area was harvested.

For this crop, 60% of the area was rated under good development conditions, down by one percentage point from the previous week, while 32% was rated average and 8% under bad conditions, unchanged from the past two weeks.

According to Deral, producers have been making progress in harvesting soybeans, but yields are varying widely, with the weather as a major challenge.

“For the past weeks, the southwest region of Parana has been favored with regular rain in all municipalities, and this has resulted in milder temperatures, giving the expectation of a recovery in soybean crops planted from the second half of November,” the state agency said in its report.

“However, rainfall became scarce again, and temperatures rose considerably, suggesting the possibility of further losses in these crops,” Deral stated.

Paraná’s soybean production estimate was pegged at 19.2 million mt, down 14% from last year’s 22.3 million mt.

Corn

The harvest is advancing gradually for corn, but productivity is below producers' expectations, Deral said.

The summer corn crop harvest in Brazil’s Paraná state advanced by 17 percentage points on the week to 32% of the 309,400 ha projected area, while harvesting a year earlier was 4% complete.

Summer crop conditions continue to decline, once again with a fall of two percentage points in the area rated as good to 66% this Tuesday from 68% in the previous report, while 28% is seen as average and 6% as in bad condition.

The planting of second corn crop started at a fast pace, but soon lost steam due to the lack of moisture in soil and high temperatures.

Second corn crop sowing reached a 32% completion rate considering the 2.4 million ha estimated area, advancing by 10 percentage points in the week ended on February 5.

At the same point in 2023, just 4% of the projected area was planted.

So far, 91% of the area is seen under good conditions, down 8 points from the previous week, with areas rated under average conditions increased by the same amount to 9%.

The state’s summer corn production was pegged at 2.6 million mt, down 31% from 2022/23’s 3.8 million mt crop while the second corn crop is forecast at 14.5 million mt, a 2% year-on-year increase.