BRAZIL CORN WATCH: Weather continues to support 2021-22 harvest; nears halfway mark

The second-corn harvest in the major producing states of Brazil gathered pace, reaching 49.2% of the planted area as of Jul. 16, according to Conab, Brazil's national agricultural agency.

The harvest of safrinha 2021-2022 corn saw another week of good progress in the country, thanks to hot and dry weather, private consultancy AgRural said in a note.

However, high moisture levels in the corn crop in Parana and southern Mato Grosso do Sul hindered harvest operations, AgRural added.

Parana is likely to receive rains during July 19-25 as well, said Brazil's National Institute of Meteorology INMET, which may again delay corn harvest work.

INMET's forecast indicates that Brazil's Center-West region, which accounts for the bulk of the second-corn production, is unlikely to see major rains this week also, which should further support the harvesting operations.

The first-corn crop in Brazil is planted between September and December and harvested over February-May, while the second crop is planted and harvested over February-March and June-July, respectively.

Conab sees Brazil's corn production in the marketing year 2021-22 (February-January) at a record 115.66 million mt, up from 87 million mt in 2020-21.

Last year Brazil's corn production fell sharply as output dropped due to drought and frost.

Brazil is also expected to export 37.5 million mt of corn in 2021-22, up from 20.82 million mt in 2020-21, according to Conab.

Brazil's 2021-22 corn crop will be marketed from February 2022 to January 2023.

Corn exports from Brazil in the first 11 business days of July touched 1.92 million mt at the rate of 174,631 mt/day, data released by Brazil's Secretariat of Foreign Trade showed.

Last year Brazil exported nearly 2 million mt in the whole of July.

While the corn exports from Brazil have been brisk over the last two weeks, rising truck freight rates and high price quotes from producers for their crops have slowed down demand from the export sector recently, market sources said.

Producers remained reluctant to increase sales at current price levels, sources said.

The freight rate for transporting corn from Sorriso to Santos via road remained high at Real 491.59/mt ($88.50/mt) for the week ended July14, compared to Real 300/mt a year ago, data from IMEA, the Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural Economics, showed.

Second-corn harvest progress in Brazil