Jan 20, 2017
Early Corn Planting underway in Mato Grosso
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
According to the Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural Economics (Imea), farmers in Mato Grosso have planted 2% of their intended safrinha corn production. The corn planting started the first week of January. Corn planting is more advanced in the western regions where 3.5% of the corn has been planted, which is 3% faster than last year. The corn planting progress is slower in southeastern Mato Grosso where farmers are more focused on safrinha cotton planting. Corn planting in southeastern Mato Grosso should get underway on about January 25th.
Imea is estimating that farmers in Mato Grosso will plant 4.4 million hectares of safrinha corn (10.8 million acres) with an average yield of 94.4 sacks/ha or 87.2 bu/ac. The total corn production in the state is estimated at 25 million tons.
Soybean forward contracting - Imea is also reporting that farmers in Mato Grosso have sold 50% of their anticipated 2016/17 soybean production. Most of the sales occurred during the first half of December before prices started to decline. The average forward contract for soybeans during the month of December was R$ 65.30 per sack (approximately $9.27 per bushel), which was R$ 3.03 less than the average during November (approximately down $0.43).
During the first half of January, prices declined even further to R$ 60 per sack, which is down R$ 7.6 from earlier in the growing season. Soybean prices could be pressured even more due to the early start of the soybean harvest in Mato Grosso. On the other hand, recent soybean prices on the Chicago Board of Trade have been increasing due to the extensive flooding in Argentina.