Dec 28, 2017
Recent Rains help to Stabilize Soybean Crop in Paraguay
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Paraguay is the third leading soybean producing country in South America after neighboring Brazil and Argentina. Farmers in Paraguay had a very good year in 2016/17 producing a record large soybean crop of approximately 10.6 million tons. The 2017/18 soybean crop is shaping up to be somewhat smaller than last year's crop, but recent rains have helped to stabilize the crop. Most estimates for the 2017/18 soybean crop are in the range of 10 million tons.
Farmers in Paraguay are allowed to plant their soybeans as early as they wish depending on the weather. They started planting their soybeans in August and farmers are already starting to harvest their earliest planted soybeans. The early yields have been disappointing due to dry weather during much of December when the crop was filling pods. The weather has improved since then and as a result, the medium and later maturing soybeans are expected to have average yields.
The weather started improving on December 20th with the return of widespread rains after about three weeks of hot and dry weather. There have been more rains since then and they are expected to continue into January.
Even with the returns of the rain, the situation is variable across the country. The soybeans planted further north and west in Paraguay have not received as much rain as the soybeans in southeastern Paraguay. Farmers in Paraguay will plant a second crop of either soybeans or corn after they harvest their first crop of soybeans.