SAO PAULO: Planting of Brazil's 2021/22 soybean crop reached 52% of the estimated area as of Oct. 28, the second-fastest pace ever for sowing at this time in the season, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday. Planting was up 14 percentage points from the previous week and higher than the 42% for the same period of 2020/21, when fieldwork was delayed by irregular showers, AgRural said.

According to the consultancy, this season's planting was favored by abundant and regular rainfall in October. Some farmers in the state of Parana might even have to replant some areas due to excessive rains, but it should not affect the crop's "good progress," AgRural noted. Overall, Brazil's current pace of planting lags only 2018/19 season's one.

For the country's 2021/22 first corn crop, AgRural said planting reached 63% of the area in the Center-South region, compared with 53% in the previous week and 54% a year earlier, supported by good weather. AgRural also said early planting of soybeans in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil's largest grain producer, will give farmers the opportunity to plant their second corn crop within the ideal climate window, unlike last year.

Second corn is planted after soybeans are harvested in the same fields and represent 70-75% of total corn output in a give year. AgRural said Mato Grosso's second corn will be planted in the first two months of 2022.emphasized text