Farmers have been slow to plant soyabeans in Brazil's top growing state, Mato Grosso, because of lack of rain, the farmers' association Aprosoja said on Thursday. The planting season officially began on September 15, but facing tighter margins this year, farmers have been wary of risking replanting. Only those who have irrigated fields have started in Mato Grosso, Aprosoja said in a statement.
"In general, our region, which traditionally starts planting early, is delayed," Silvesio de Oliveira, a regional Aprosoja representative for northern Mato Grosso state, said in the statement. A slower start to planting is not necessarily a threat to what the US Agriculture Department expects to be a record crop of 97 million tonnes, but it could leave less time for farmers to plant a second annual crop of corn or cotton. Brazil is the world's No 2 soyabean producer and top exporter.
In western Mato Grosso, planting should pick up pace in mid-October, according to Aprosoja. Meteorologists from Somar weather service said in a Thursday bulletin that a cold front in the southeast was weakening, diminishing the chance of rain in central Brazil in coming days. Analyst firm AgRural estimated on Friday that 1.7 percent of the nationwide crop has been planted, around the same as 1.6 percent of the crop at the same time a year ago. Most planting had occurred in No 2 growing state Parana, where rains have been more plentiful.
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