Brazil's Mato Grosso corn planting at 63.2% of projected area

New Delhi — Brazil's Mato Grosso, the country's largest grain producer, had planted 63.2% of the second projected corn area as of Friday, well above the five-year average of 52.16%, the Instituto Mato-Grossense de Economia Agropecuria said Tuesday in a report.

Farmers are expected to quicken planting in the next few weeks, with the five-year average of corn planting at 88.2% by the end of the February, according to the institute. Planting this year is still behind last year, when early rains helped push planting to 74.2% by February 15.

Farmers in Mato Grosso sold 64.4% of the projected second corn crop as of last week, up from 46.5% a year earlier, according to the institute.

Strong demand from the animal protein and ethanol industries has pushed corn prices higher in the past few months, encouraging farmers to sell their crop.

Corn prices in the state rose to Real 38.42 ($8.80)/kg as of February 14, up 77.5% from a year earlier, according to the institute.

Mato Grosso has two corn crops, one planted during September-December and the second in February-March.

The second corn harvest for 2019-2020 is estimated at 32.44 million mt, up 0.6% from a year earlier, with the area projected at 5.1 million hectares, up 5% from a year earlier, the institute forecasts.