Brazilian soybean planting nears completion, dryness concerns linger: AgRural

New Delhi — Brazilian soybean planting for the 2020-21 crop year (September-August) has been progressing at a swift pace since mid-October following adequate rainfall across mid-western regions and has entered the home stretch in most regions, but dry weather in core regions remains a concern, agricultural consultancy AgRural said Dec. 7.

Brazilian soybean farmers have planted 90% of the total estimated area up to Dec. 3, against 87% a week earlier and 93% at the same point last year, according to AgRural.

Soybean planting has finished in the core regions and has entered final stretches in the Matopiba, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, the consultancy said.

A healthy soybean harvest pace was expected to put short-term pressure on US prices, which have been on an upswing on export optimism, tightening supply of soy and South American weather concerns, analysts said.

CBOT soybean January futures prices were trading at $11.5138/bushel on Dec. 7 at 6:30 am CDT. Although the current futures prices are down 20 cents on the last week's average on technical selling, they are still at a four-year high.

Although soybean planting seemed to have caught up with both last year's and the five-year average pace of soy planting, dry weather and high temperatures in most regions of Brazil have stoked concerns about lower production.

The states of Mato Grosso and Parana -- top two soybeans producers -- were a concern due to the lack of rain in recent days, which could affect the development of planted soy crop, AgRural said earlier.

Soybean crops require abundant rainfall and high soil moisture content during the planting and crop development stages, meaning dry weather slows the process.

With extensive dry weather in September and early October, Brazilian soy planting got under way at the slowest pace in a decade, leading to concerns of a delay to the harvest.

Brazil's soybean harvest generally begins between late January and early February, but a delayed planting could push the harvest date a little further out.

Brazil is forecast to produce close to 133 million mt of soybeans in 2020-21, a record high for the world's largest soybean producer and exporter, according to consensus analyst estimates.

AgRural estimated Brazilian soybean acreage for 2020-21 at 38.3 million hectares, up 3.6% year on year and output at 132.2 million mt, an all-time high.

Brazilian soybean acreage and production forecasts have remained unchanged month on month despite the delayed planting and crop development concerns, the consultancy said. However, a revised forecast is expected this week, it added.