February 8, 2007

Heavy rainfall stops soy shipments in Brazil's Mato Grosso

Heavy rainfall in northern Mato Grosso, Brazil, is affecting soy shipments there, the local Estado newswire reported Wednesday (Feb 7).

Daily thundershowers in northern Mato Grosso have made some 600 trucks unable to load an estimated 24,000 tonnes of soy.

Mato Grosso's soy crop is currently 13 percent harvested, said farm consulting group AgRural on Tuesday. The northern part of the state starts to harvest first.

In the western regions of northern Mato Grosso, near the Bolivian border, trucks have stopped because heavy rains have made precarious dirt roads impassable, the newswire reported, citing a local transportation company.

Rainfall in north-western Mato Grosso was 50 millimetres above normal precipitation of 300 mm, the newswire reported, citing local weather service Climatempo.