SAO PAULO: Brazil’s 2023/24 soybean planting has reached as of last Thursday 1.9% of the expected area, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, above the 1.5% seen at the same period a year ago and the quickest pace in five years.

Sowing was up 1.3 percentage point from the previous week driven by Parana state in southern Brazil, where farmers took advantage of early September rains to advance in planting, AgRural said in a statement. Work in the fields has slowed in the last few days as the region grapples with a heatwave and lower rainfall, but was still enough for the overall pace to hit its highest level since 2018/19.

AgRural added that farmers in center-south Brazil have also planted 25% of the area expected for their first 2024 corn crop, up from 21% a week ago but below the 28% registered a year earlier. “Work remains concentrated in the three southern states, progressing well in Parana and Santa Catarina,” the consultancy said. “The pace has improved in Rio Grande do Sul, but there is still a delay due to excessive rain.”