Sep 06, 2018
Corn Planting and Wheat Harvest in Parana off to a slow Start
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Planting of the full-season corn crop in the state of Parana in southern Brazil is getting off to somewhat of a slow start. The Department of Rural Economics (Deral) estimated last Monday that 2% of the corn had been planted compared to 4% a year earlier.
Deral is estimating that farmers in the state will increase their full-season corn acreage by 6% to 352,000 hectares. The improved corn price has led to a small recovery in corn acreage after years of declining acreage. Corn prices in the state are in the range of R$ 30 per sack (approximately $3.40 per bushel), which is a 60% improvement compared to last year at this time.
The consulting agency T&F Consultoria Agroeconomica is forecasting that the corn production in Parana will increase 11% from 2.88 million tons last season to 3.19 million tons in 2018/19. Corn yields are expected to improve in 2018/19 after dry weather impacted yields in 2017/18.
Wheat Harvest in Parana - Farmers in Parana have started to harvest their early maturing wheat about two weeks later than normal according to the Department of Rural Economics (Deral). As of last Monday, 2% had been harvested compared to 16% last year at this time. In 2017, the wheat harvest started in mid-August. The late start to the harvest is being attributed to dry weather in April and May that resulted in planting delays.
The condition of the wheat in Parana is not very good. Deral rates the crop at 22% poor and 42% good. In addition to dry weather at the start of the growing season, a hard frost last week caused even more damage especially in the western and southwestern regions of the state. The frost negatively impacted the crop during s sensitive period in its development.