Jul 01, 2019
Brazilian Farmers making Progress Harvesting their Safrinha Corn
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Recent dryer weather in Mato Grosso has allowed farmers in the state to make good progress in harvesting their 2018/19 safrinha corn crop.
According to the Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural Economics (Imea), the safrinha corn in the state was 40.8% harvested as of last Friday. This represented an advance of 16% for the week and it is nearly double last year's harvest pace of 21.8%. The most advanced region of the state is the mid-north where 53% of the corn has been harvested. The slowest harvest pace is the southeastern region where 27% of the corn has been harvested.
Many farmers in Mato Grosso are reporting record corn yields due to the early harvest of the soybeans that allowed virtually all the safrinha corn to be planted during the ideal planting window, which closes about the third week of February. Additionally, the weather was beneficial for the entire growing season.
The one small negative for the crop was poorer quality seed from some of the earliest harvested corn due to wet weather during the early harvest. The grain quality has since improved as the harvest has progressed and the grain elevators have been able to blend the poorer quality corn with better quality corn to meet the standards.
Mato Grosso is the largest safrinha corn producing state responsible for approximately 42% of Brazil's total safrinha corn production.
The second largest safrinha corn producing state is Parana and the Department of Rural Economics (Deral) reported last week that 34% of the safrinha corn had been harvested. The corn that has not yet been harvested is rated 2% poor, 16% average, and 82% good. Recent wet weather in southern Brazil has slowed the harvest pace somewhat. The state of Parana is expected to produce approximately 19% of Brazil's safrinha corn production.
Conab is estimating the 2018/19 Brazilian corn crop at 97.0 million tons with 70.6 million tons from the safrinha crop (73% of Brazil's total corn production) and 26.3 million tons from the full-season corn crop (27% of Brazil's total corn production). Some private estimates have the 2018/19 Brazilian corn production at 100 million tons or slightly higher. Brazil's corn exports come primarily from the safrinha production and Brazil is now the second largest corn exporter after the United States.