SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) — Scarce rain over key Brazilian grain growing regions in September may cause an unexpectedly bigger reduction in the area planted with corn during the summer, according to an Oct. 2 weather report.
The summer corn planted area was initially expected to fall 20 to 25 percent because of a drop in the price of the commodity, said Marco Antonio dos Santos, founding partner at Rural Clima.
“But September was extremely dry and hot and this percentage is likely to increase as the ideal window for summer corn planting was shortened,” the forecaster said.
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“The situation is pushing more producers to replace corn planting with soy.”
The government’s supply and statistics agency Conab said summer corn, also known as first corn, was planted over an area of 13.5 million acres in the previous crop.
Due to poor rains, Brazil’s soy producers had planted only 1.5 percent of the 2017-18 crop through Sept. 28, less than half the level at this time last year.
In addition, scarce rains caused summer corn planting to be completely halted, with some crop damage in the southern states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. That happened on farms where corn was seeded in early September, according to Rural Clima.
Still, soil humidity levels rose recently in Brazil’s main grain regions, which is expected to help farmers advance soy planting as well as aid fields that have been seeded.
However, while rain was expected in the west-central, southeastern and southern regions of the country, it was expected to be irregular, the forecaster said, adding that soy farmers should proceed “with caution” until conditions improve.
Soy and corn account for about 90 percent of Brazil’s grain output.
During the second half of October rains become more frequent over main producing regions, Rural Clima said.Â
