Brazil-based agribusiness consultancy AgRural has lowered its forecast for the country’s 2023/24 soyabean crop due to a heatwave in top producing region Mato Grosso state, Hellenic Shipping News reported on 14 November.
The consultancy said it now expected the country’s soyabean output to total 163.5M tonnes this season, down from an October forecast of 164.6M tonnes, adding that new cuts were possible before the end of this month depending on the weather.
Hot, dry weather has been affecting the initial growth stage in recently planted areas while also impacting fields where growth is more advanced, according to AgRural.
“The need for replanting continues to increase in the state,” the consultancy was quoted as saying, noting the weather was also a concern for farmers in other centre-western states as well as in northern, northeastern and southeastern Brazil.
AgRural said soyabean planting had reached 61% of expected areas in the week before the report, up 10 percentage points from the previous week but below the 69% seen the previous year. It was the slowest sowing pace since 2020/21, it noted.
Due to concerns about the impact of unfavourable weather on the Brazilian crop, US soyabean futures jumped to their highest prices since August on 14 November, Reuters reported analysts as saying on the same day.
Dryness in northern and central Brazil and excessive rainfall in southern areas threatens soyabean and corn production in the South American country, according to analysts quoted in the report.
