Feb 01, 2022
Brazil's First Corn Crop 14% Harvested, Safrinha 14% Planted
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Brazil's 2021/22 total corn production is now going to depend on the safrinha crop. The first corn crop was severely impacted by the drought in southern Brazil and there is now a strong financial incentive to plant as much safrinha corn as possible.
First Corn Crop
The first corn crop in Brazil was 14% harvested as of late last week compared to 12% last year according to AgRural.
Parana - Deral rated the first corn crop as 24% poor, 38% average, and 38% good. The crop was 2% in vegetative development, 13% pollinating, 46% filling grain, 39% mature, and 8% harvested. Deral increased their estimate of the first corn crop from 2.4 million tons to 2.7 million
Rio Grande do Sul - Rio Grande do Sul was expected to produce 4-5 million tons of corn, but the drought has reduced that number to approximately 2.5 million. Corn yields in the state continue to be very disappointing.
Minas Gerais - The weather for the first corn crop in Minas Gerais has generally been beneficial, but some areas have received too much rain resulting in localized flooding. It is estimated that as much as 4% of the corn acreage in Minas Gerais was lost to flooding.
Safrinha Corn Crop
The safrinha corn in Brazil was 14% planted as of late last week compared to 1.5% last year according to AgRural.
Mato Grosso safrinha corn - The safrinha corn in Mato Grosso was 26.7% planted compared to 2.1% last year and 14.2% average as of late last week. This represents an advance of 17% for the week, which is a good planting week. Recent dryer weather has accelerated the soybean harvest to 31% and farmers are planting their safrinha corn as quickly as possible. Early conditions for the safrinha corn are good and it appears that most of the crop will be planted within the ideal planting window.
Parana safrinha corn - Farmers in Parana had planted 5% of the safrinha corn as of earlier last week. The planting percentage should probably be higher, but there are reports of farmers waiting to plant their safrinha corn until they have improved soil moisture.