October 17, 2007
Rains seen to help Brazilian soy planting
Heavy rains falling most of Brazil's soy belt in the past few days are seen to help producers in many important growing regions start planting the new crop, forecaster Somar said Tuesday (October 16).
Downpour was continual in No. 3 soy state Rio Grande do Sul in the south to No. 1 soy state Mato Grosso in the centre-west over the past three days.
Fourth biggest soy state Goias remains drier, however, Somar said.
In its daily soy weather bulletin, weather will be clear in Rio Grande do Sul which will allow field work to resume.
Rio Grande do Sul has been experiencing heavy rainfall in the past weeks but the state doesn't normally begin planting until November. The soil moisture levels will favour early development of newly planted soy.
Parana, Brazil's second biggest soy state located in the south, has been mostly dry until this weekend when the first big rains of the season began falling in the state.
Somar said Parana will also likely begin wide-scale planting after heavy rains will replace the water deficit in the state.
In the centre-west, rain will continue to be isolated in Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. Widespread rains will be important to create favourable germination conditions for newly planted soy in this vast soy region.
So far, Brazil's early planting Mato Grosso has only gotten isolated rainfall and Goias has gotten none.
In its 10-day extended forecast, Somar said widespread rains were expected in Rio Grande do Sul, Parana and Mato Grosso do Sul early next week with the arrival of the new cold front.
Soy plants can withstand several weeks of dry weather after fields form a canopy but freshly germinated young plants need consistently moist conditions to survive.
In mid-September, some producers started planting in Mato Grosso, typically the first state to plant, after some isolated showers or even "in the dust" in anticipation of rains, Somar said.
As of yet, no widespread rain has fallen in the region.
Meteorologists say the effects of La Nina, or the cooling of surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that has been reported off the coast of Peru, is often associated with a delay in the start of Brazil's rainy season in the grain belt.
Planting of the new crop is about three weeks behind the start of last year's crop.
Brazil is forecast to plant a record soy crop from now to December to be harvested from February through May. Market views put the new crop at 60 million to 63 million tonnes, up from roughly 59 million tonnes harvested this season.
Following is a rainfall table for the month with amounts expressed in millimetres, according to Somar. (One millimetre equals 0.0394 inches.)
Abbreviations are as follows: Rio Grande do Sul state (RS)- northwest and northern regions, Parana (PR), Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), Mato Grosso (MT)- south and center-north regions, Goias (GO), Federal District (DF), Maranhao (MA) and Bahia (BA).
MONTHLY RAINFALL TOTALS
|
|
Last three days |
Oct 1-15 |
5-Year Average |
|
RS-NW |
12 |
84 |
190 |
|
RS-N |
22 |
87 |
181 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
PR |
37 |
43 |
160 |
|
MS |
29 |
30 |
160 |
|
MT-S |
40 |
52 |
135 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
MT-N |
27 |
30 |
155 |
|
GO |
00 |
21 |
130 |
|
DF |
08 |
12 |
168 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
MA |
06 |
26 |
83 |
|
BA |
00 |
00 |
00 |
