The previous record pace was in 2016, when farmers had advanced to 18 percent of the area by this time of the year. Last season, they were at only 12 percent of plantings. The five-year average is 10 percent.
“A speedy progress in Mato Grosso and continuing good pace in Paraná made possible that planting advanced by 10 percentage points in a week,” the consultancy said in a report.
AgRural said regular rains have secured enough soil moisture in Mato Grosso to boost seeding, which reached 34 percent of the expected area in the state versus 18 percent last year and 14 percent on average in the last five years.
Favorable weather all around has also boosted numbers for corn, in the case of those farmers who chose to plant the cereal as Brazil’s summer crop instead of the oilseed. Corn planting was at 44 percent on Thursday compared with 37 percent at this time last year and 38 percent on average for the period.
Brazil’s summer corn accounts for around a third of total production. The largest corn crop comes later in the season, with farmers planting the grain right after they harvest soybeans.
The advanced soy planting is expected to result in new-crop beans coming to the market weeks before normal, which will benefit farmers since Brazilian soybeans have been trading at large premiums to Chicago prices because of the trade war between United States and China.
