Drought trims Brazil's soy output

Brazil's soy and corn crops in major grain-producing state Parana may have been hit much harder by drought than official estimates have reported so far, co-operatives said on Friday. The state-linked crop supply agency Deral has reported losses of around 1 million tonnes in past weeks for corn while the state co-operatives' association Ocepar said combined losses for corn and soy in Parana could be 5 million tonnes or more.
Parana, Sao Paulo state's western neighbour, is the country's No 1 grower of corn and No 2 producer of soy. "The losses are greater than those presented by Deral or by the agriculture ministry (which released early December forecast data this month)," said Robson Mafioletti, an agronomist and technical spokesman for Ocepar.
Brazil's southern grain belt suffered from hot, dry weather from mid-November through December, a critical period in the region's soybean and corn crops when regular moisture is important for development of the recently planted crops. Rains returned in early January but missed some areas and often arrived too late to avert crop damage. Parana and No 3 soy state Rio Grande do Sul further to the south together grow 30 percent of Brazil's soy and 35 percent its corn.
Chicago grain prices have been volatile on news of dry weather afflicting grain crops in Brazil and Argentina. Based on data collected from its members, Ocepar forecasts the soy crop will fall by 20 percent and the corn crop will be 35 percent lower than initially expected. Deral trimmed its outlook for corn by 3.2 million tonnes, which would put the harvest at 5.5 million tonnes, a sharp contraction from last year's 9.7 million.
Ocepar expects losses to soy of around 2 million tonnes, which would bring output this year to below 10 million tonnes and down from 12 million tonnes harvested last season.
"In the west of the state, losses to soy passed 35-40 percent. Producers in the region planted early maturing varieties and drought hit the crop hard," said Mafioletti. "In the north, many couldn't plant due to the drought." He added that soy planted later in the season may do better as they were planted closer to the time rains arrived.
In the grain growing state of Rio Grande do Sul, agronomists at the state-linked crop forecast agency Emater are forecasting a loss of 17 percent on the initial estimate of the corn crop due to drought. This would put the harvest at 4.5 million tonnes, down from 5.2 million tonnes last season. "I think the losses will evolve more. We've not had a good sequence of rains," said Claudio Doro, agronomist at Emater, said.