October 24, 2006

 

Brazil's 2006/07 soy crop 12 percent planted

 

 

Brazil's 2006/07 soy plantings are moving along quickly this season because of good weather and the crop was 12 percent planted as of Oct 20, agribusiness consulting firm Safras & Mercado said Friday (Oct 23).

 

In Mato Grosso, the leading soy producing state, soy plantings were put at 27 percent compared to 13 percent last week and 17 percent at this time in the 2005/06 planting season.

 

"It's all because of the weather. Growers had two years in a row with bad weather during the planting season," said Flavio Franca, one of the report's authors.

 

Franca said plantings would be further advanced in Mato Grosso, but a lack of credit by many growers slowed crop input purchases.

 

"Credit problems have definitely slowed soy planting. Some farmers are getting late deliveries of fertilisers because they didn't have the money until recently," said Rui Prado, president of the Mato Grosso Soy Growers Association.

 

The no. 2 soy producing state, Parana, is 15 percent planted, up from 5 percent last week and 6 percent over the same period last year.

 

The third largest producer, Rio Grande do Sul, started planting last week, Franca said.

 

Goias state is 12 percent planted, up from 4 percent last week, but down from 13 percent over the same period last season.

 

Mato Grosso do Sul is 8 percent planted compared to 6 percent last week and 9 percent at this time last year.

 

Sao Paulo is 4 percent planted, unchanged from last week and up from 1 percent at this time last year. All other states are either just starting to plant, or will plant later this month.

 

On average, just 6 percent of Brazil's soy crop is generally in the ground at this time in October, according to Safras & Mercado. At this time in the 2005/06 season, 8 percent of the soy had been planted.

 

Franca estimates a reduction of nearly 2 million hectares to 20.6 million hectares, with total production of 55.2 million metric tonnes. Franca estimated 2005/06 production totals at 55 million tonnes, compared to around 52 million estimated by the government's National Commodities Supply Corp.

 

"These numbers all depend on favourable crop weather," Franca said, citing extended forecasts that point to positive weather for Brazilian crops in the centre-west and south.

 

Brazil is the world's second biggest soy producer behind the US.