Second corn production in Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul seen down 32.5% on year

New Delhi — Second corn production in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul was seen at 8.208 million mt in 2019-20, down 32.5% year on year, according to data from Associacao dos Produtores de Soja de Mato Grosso do Sul (Aprosoja/MS) on June 4.

Mato Grosso do Sul accounted for nearly 10% of total corn production in Brazil in 2018-19, according to national agricultural agency Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento (Conab).

The association said that a drop in planted area and crop yield have hit corn production in the state.

Second corn area in the state was revised down to 1.9 million hectares in 2019-20 from the initial estimate of 1.977 million hectares and down 12.6% from the last season, the report said.

The ideal window for planting corn crop in the state was smaller this year. In addition, the climatic risk in January forced producers to opt for planting other winter crops, the report said.

Planting a considerable area with corn outside the ideal window along with irregular rain this season were expected to reduce corn crop yields in the state, Aprosoja/MS said.

While the weather has been unfavorable to the corn crop this season, nominal prices as of June 1 were up 29% year on year, according to data from Brazil's Center for Applied Studies on Applied Economics, which has encouraged producers' selling.

Farmers in the state have already sold 40% of their projected 2019-20 corn output as compared to 32% in 2018-19, data released by the association showed.