Second corn planting in Brazil's Parana at 84% of projected area

New Delhi — The second corn planting in Parana state, Brazil's second largest corn producer, reached 84% of its projected 2.17 million hectares as of Monday, according to data released by the State Agriculture and Supply Secretariat.

In Parana, the ideal planting window for the second corn crop closes by March 10 and crops that are planted after this period could face weather related risks.

Any delay in corn planting in the state could put crops at risk at a time when animal feed manufacturers are already paying high prices to procure corn.

Average weekly wholesale corn prices in Parana was Real 47 per 60 kg ($10.12/60 kg) during the first week of March, up 27.4% year on year, according to data provided by national agricultural agency, Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento, or Conab.

Although Brazil is one of the largest corn exporters in the world, the bulk of the crop is grown in the center-west region and transporting corn to the southern states, where the animal protein industry is concentrated, is expensive.

It is cheaper for the southern states in Brazil to import corn from neighbors Paraguay and Argentina.

Brazil will have to import about 2.5 million mt of corn this year to meet feed demand from the animal protein industry, according to a survey by the Rio Grande do Sul's Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development

As of Monday, 200,005 hectares of first corn crop in Parana had already been harvested, out of the total planted area of 348,801 ha in 2019-2020. Last year, the harvested area for the first corn crop around the same time was 183,506 ha out of the total planted area of 360,400 hectares in the state.

In Brazil, the first corn crop is planted during September-December and harvested in February-May, while the second corn crop, also known as Safrinha corn, is planted after the soybean harvest in February-March and harvested in June-July.

The agriculture secretariat has estimated the first corn production at 3.2 million mt for 2019-2020, up 3.5% from a year ago, while the second corn crop production is pegged at 12.3 million mt, down 7.5% year on year.