SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Hotter and drier weather in key Brazilian corn growing areas gave a boost to harvesting work, especially in Brazil’s top grain state Mato Grosso, according to a survey by AgRural released on Monday.
The agribusiness consultancy said 20.3% of the area cultivated with second corn was harvested in the Center-South of the country through last Thursday.
This compares with 11.4% in the previous week and 5.3% in the same period last year, said AgRural, which raised Brazil’s total corn forecast to 113.8 million tonnes citing expectations of a bigger corn output in the north and northeast.
In Parana, Mato Grosso do Sul and Goias, the loss of moisture from the grains remained low and, as such, harvesting lagged, according to AgRural. But the expectation is that the work progresses more quickly this week in those regions, the consultancy noted.
Second corn, which is planted after soybeans are reaped from fields in the same areas, represents about 75% of national production in a given year.
With second corn, Brazil becomes an aggressive exporter in the second half of the year, competing with heavyweight suppliers like United States.
This season, however, Brazilian corn exports via a Southern rose atypically driven in part by a lack of product from Ukraine
One consultancy pegged Brazil’s corn exports at 43 million tonnes this year thanks incoming large supplies.
(Reporting by Ana Mano and Roberto Samora; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
