Brazilian soybean harvest at slowest pace in a decade on incessant rains: AgRural

New Delhi — Brazil's soybean harvest for the 2020-21 marketing year (February 2021 - January 2022) has made the slowest progress in a decade as unrelenting rains hampered field activities, agricultural consultancy AgRural said Feb. 1.

Soybean farmers in the South American nation had been able to harvest only 1.9% of the projected acreage as of Jan. 28, compared with 8.9% last year, the consultancy said.

While the rainfall is extremely beneficial to the soybean crop's early and middle-stage development, it hinders the maturity of late-staged planted beans.

The week ending Jan. 30 was marked by significant rains across much of Brazil's soybean-producing areas, the consultancy said. The constant rain and the overcast conditions made it difficult to harvest the maturing soybeans, it added.

HARVEST DELAY

For the coming days, rain in South America are not showing any sign of relenting either, which is expected to put further pressure on the lackadaisical pace of harvesting.

Rains are forecast to continue across Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, southern Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul over the week ending Feb. 6, weather agency Maxar said Jan. 29.

According to analysts, Brazil's soybean harvest is expected to pick up pace in H2 February, almost a month later than the five-year average.

Soybean planting in Brazil began at the slowest pace in a decade due to extremely dry conditions in September and October 2020. Consequently, the harvest has been delayed across the country.

The latest harvest data confirming the slow progress is expected to support US soybeans futures prices, which are trading at six-and-a-half year highs. March soybean futures prices were trading at $13.7000/bu at 1318 GMT Feb. 1.

According to AgRural, despite the harvest delay, Brazil is expected to produce an all-time high of 131.7 million mt of soybeans in 2020-21.

However, if the rains continue to impact soybean harvesting in February, then the crop quality could decrease significantly due to excessive moisture, leading to lower production, the consultancy said.