First corn planting in Brazil for the 2021-22 season is gaining pace in the southern parts of the country, data from the state agriculture departments and private consultancies showed.
The 2021-22 corn crop will be marketed during February 2022-January 2023.
The first corn crop in Brazil is planted during September-December and harvested in February-May, while the second crop is planted in February-March and harvested June-July.
As of Sept. 2, 10% of the forecast area for the summer corn was planted in the Center-South region of Brazil compared with 14% in the same period last year, according to a survey conducted by agriculture consultancy AgRural.
The first corn planting operation is concentrated in Rio Grande do Sul, Parana and Santa Catarina, which together accounted for 38% of first corn output in 2020-21.
Planting is progressing well in Rio Grande do Sul, where rains in August resulted in good levels of soil moisture, AgRural said.
Farmers in Santa Catarina and Parana are waiting for more rains to speed up planting operations.
Some plots in western Santa Catarina may even need replanting if it does not rain soon, AgRural said.
As of Sept.3, the first corn was planted across 14,500 hectares, equivalent to 3% of the total area estimated at 422,000 hectares for 2021-22, the state’s Department of Agriculture and Supply, or DERAL, said in a report.
Parana’s first corn output is forecast at 4.1 million mt in 2021-22, which will be 32% higher than the previous crop, DERAL said.
Meanwhile, harvesting of the 2020-21 second corn crop is entering its final stages.
As of Sept. 4, 93.7% of the planted corn crop in Brazil had been harvested, data released by Brazil’s national agricultural agency, CONAB, showed.
Corn prices in Brazil eased further, with supply increasing in the market.
The fall in international corn prices also pulled domestic prices lower, CONAB said in its weekly report.
While some corn buyers who needed to rebuild their stocks negotiated deals after the recent drop in prices, liquidity remained low in general, the Brazil-based Center for Advanced Studies on Applied Economics, known as CEPEA, said in a note.
Despite the progress of the harvest, producers are reluctant to sell their remaining volumes at current price levels, market participants said.
For the week ended Sept. 3, trading in the export market remained low as the domestic market was still more profitable than exports.
“Domestic market prices retreated [this week],” a FOB Santos market participant said. “But nothing changes the scenario, we still have a difference of $4-$5 in favor of the domestic market.”
Brazil’s corn exports during February-August reached 7.6 million mt, down 33% from the same period last year, data from the country’s customs department showed.
CONAB forecast Brazil to export 23.5 million mt in 2020-21 from nearly 35 million mt in 2019-20.
Brazil’s corn supply has plummeted this year due to severe drought during the crucial months of crop development.
Source: Platts