SAO PAULO: Brazilian farmers have harvested 9% of the planted soybean area in the 2022/23 cycle through last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said in a statement on Monday, up four percentage points from the previous week.

At the same time last year, 16% of the Brazilian soy fields had been reaped, said AgRural, citing rains as disrupting field work in the world’s largest supplier of the oilseed.

Brazil is expected to reap 152.9 million tonnes of soybeans this season, according to a January estimate by AgRural. If confirmed, that would be a record.

Soy harvesting delays are pushing back Brazil’s second corn planting, according to AgRural data, which shows only 12% of the second corn area planted in the center-south region, half the 24% seen at this time one year ago.

Despite being late, Mato Grosso state’s second corn planting remains the most advanced among all other states, followed by Goias and Parana, AgRural said.