The second-corn crop harvest is getting underway in South America. Dr. Michael Cordonnier, an agronomist with Soybean and Corn Advisor, says things are just starting to ramp up in Brazil.
Dr. Cordonnier says; “They’re maybe one or two percent harvested for the safrinha corn in Brazil. But the big news, I think, is the safrinha corn had a very good week. There was widespread rain across South Central Brazil. Amounts were one-to-three inches. Heaviest amounts were in Mato Grosso do Sul and very beneficial for the late-planted safrinha corn. Now, the crop still needs to be frost-free until about the end of June, but these rains helped. And I’ll be increasing my Brazil corn estimate due to this very good rain system they had in South Central Brazil.”
Some of the corn got planted late due to a delayed soybean harvest. He says farmers will be keeping an eye out for frost. He says; “There will be a threat that it could still be hurt by frost, maybe until early July, but that won’t be very much. But every week without a frost is a little bit closer to the end. So, everybody’s been increasing their estimates now for this Brazilian corn crop. The yields up in Mato Grosso are good. They had good rains, and that’s the big state, of course. They’re almost half the total production, so the area that got to rain now is Parana, the number two state for safrinha corn, and Mato Grosso do Sul, which is the number four state, and the number two state is Goias, so it’s been a good event.”
Farmers in Mato Grosso are struggling with skyrocketing freight rates to get their corn to Brazilian ports.
Dr. Cordonnier; “If you did not forward-contract your corn, you’re probably gonna lose money on your safrinha corn production. Right now, the interior price is right at maybe the break-even point, and you better hope you got a good crop because it’s very expensive to transport it. And a lot of people are saying I may not grow as much safrinha crop next year unless the price is a whole lot better.”
The soybean harvest in Argentina is almost wrapped up as well; “The soybeans right now are 87 percent harvested, and the corn is 29. It’s been getting a lot of rain. They’re working on the soybeans if any sat up. Corn harvest only advanced like two percent this past week. The corn has not gone down production-wise in the last couple of weeks. Although the soybeans, we have been going down on the soybeans. The soybeans just had a terrible year, and they never had the chance to recuperate. The corn kind of did okay, way down from last year, but not as bad as the soybeans.”
For more information, go to soybeansandcorn.com.