SAO PAULO: The area planted with soybeans in Brazil will grow in 2024/25 at its slowest pace in almost two decades, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said, forecasting a modest 0.9% expansion when compared to the previous season.

AgRural expects Brazil’s soybean area to reach 46.4 million hectares in 2024/25, which - based on figures provided by national crop agency Conab - would mark the worst year-on-year performance since 2006/07, when there was a drop from 2005/06.

“Prices are not encouraging a greater area increase,” AgRural analyst Daniele Siqueira told Reuters, as benchmark soybean futures in Chicago hover around four-year lows on expectations of a bumper US crop.

Siqueira noted the figures were still preliminary as dry weather in the main producing areas should hold off an early start to planting in September.