Jan 11, 2018
Early Safrinha Corn Planting Underway in Parana
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
An estimated 70% of Brazil total corn production in 2017/18 will be safrinha production, which is corn planted as a second crop following the first crop of soybeans. The safrinha corn in Brazil is generally planted during January and February.
The state of Parana is the second largest safrinha corn producing state in Brazil after Mato Grosso, and the Department of Rural Economics for the state of Parana (Deral) is reporting that the safrinha corn planting in the state has started. They are reporting that 4,500 hectares of safrinha corn have been planted in the southern and southwestern regions of the state.
The recent weather in the state has been very wet and there is more rainfall in the near term forecast. As a result, the early safrinha corn plating is off to a relatively slow start, but it is still very early because the safrinha corn planting generally peaks between January 15 and February 15.
Deral is expecting that farmers in the state will reduce their safrinha corn acreage 11% to 2.15 million hectares due to low domestic corn prices. The safrinha corn production in the state is expected to be 12.3 million tons.
There are two corn crops produced in the state - the full-season corn crop which is planted in the spring and the safrinha corn crop which is planted after soybeans. The full-season corn crop is currently generally filling grain and the early corn harvest may begin in several weeks.
According to Deral, farmers in Parana reduced their full-season corn acreage in 2017/18 to 335,670 hectares, which are the fewest hectares since records have been kept. The full-season corn production in Parana is expected to decline 39% to 3 million tons.
The recent trend in Parana, as well as in all of Brazil, has been to reduce the full-season corn acreage in favor of more soybean production and then to switch more of the corn to safrinha production.