Brazil soybean planting at half last year’s rate: AgRural

The planting of Brazil’s record-busting soybean crop remained sluggish last week, marked by sporadic rain and hot weather, consultants AgRural said in a public note Monday.

Just 1.6% of the expected seed was in the ground as of 1 October, the Parana-based forecasters said.

That is just over half the 3.1% that was in the ground at this point last year, and way down on the five-year average of 4.5%.

“Although Parana and Mato Grosso – the two states that normally start Brazilian planting – received some rain, the volumes were small and local, being far from ideal for the work to gain pace,” AgRural said.

The two biggest growing states – Mato Grosso and Parana – have had hot and dry weather and that is set to continue until the middle of the month, the consultants said.

Last week, Mato Grosso’s statistics agency IMEA said the state had planted just 1.7% of the crop – in a move that is likely to see US exporters stay competitive until February.

The USDA expects Brazil to produce more than 130 million mt next year – a figure that may be revised downwards on Friday when the agency releases its October update of its influential Wasde report.

In terms of corn, 31% of the summer crop is in the ground in the centre-south of Brazil, AgRural said.

That is up 5 percentage points on the week and in line with the five-year average.