Brazil harvest hits 3.8% versus 4.3% a year ago: AgRural

Brazil has harvested 3.8% of its expected crop of soybean, according to consultants AgRural, which compares with 0.8% last week, 4.3% a year ago and a five-year average at this time of year of 2.9%.

Farmers in the key soybean producing state of Mato Grosso harvested 13.5% of the expected planted area in the past week, up a huge 10.7 percentage points on the week and eclipsing last year’s harvest rate at this time of the month of 12.4%.

Elsewhere, harvest rates in Rondonia reached 10%, up from 0.5% last week, while others fared less well.

The state of Sao Paulo harvested 0.8% of the expected area, Mato Grosso do Sul 0.2% and Paraná with 1%, all of which had just commenced work to get the beans in the bin.

Noticeably in the key state of Parana, farmers were still waiting for the crop to grow due to the later planting dates.

“This year, the beginning of the Paraná harvest is delayed due to the later planting and the lengthening of the part cycle of the crops. But the expectation is of [a] great harvest,” AgRural said in its weekly report.

Some analysts are predicting significant yields in Brazil, which could see the country eclipse last year’s record production of 114 million mt.