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Brazil Soy Harvest Said 5% Done

Producers in Brazil had harvested 5% of an expected record soybean crop by Feb. 10, the private analyst Celeres estimated Feb. 13, according to Reuters News Service.

The harvest pace was on par with the average for the past five years, Celeres said.

Mato Grosso, the No. 1 soybean growing state, is the most advanced in harvesting. Producers in the center-west state have collected 14% of the area planted to the oilseed, which is on par with last year.

Mato Grosso is normally the first state to plant and harvest across Brazil's soy belt.

Celeres said No. 4 producer state Goias was well advanced in respect to the previous harvest. The center-west state had harvested 9% of its soy crop by Feb. 10, well up from 2% a year ago.

Paraná, Brazil's No. 2 soybean state, which is the south, has collected 4% of its crop, up slightly from 3% last season.

No. 3 Rio Grande do Sul has not begun harvesting yet. It typically starts in March, as it is the southernmost state and its crop is planted and matures later than most.

Producers will face difficulties harvesting in the center-west early this week as widespread rains, which dumped ample moisture on fields over the weekend, are expected to continue through midweek.

Rains in Paraná will intensify in the second half of the week. For those areas not yet harvesting, the rains should help yields as most of the crop is filling pods with beans at present, Celeres said.

Of the crop still in the field, 61% had begun to fill pods with beans by Feb. 10, up from last year's 57% but behind the five-year average of 68%, Celeres said. Some 11% of the crop was said to be maturing.

Celeres pegs Brazil’s 2005-06 soy crop at 57.8 million metric tons (MMT), up from last year’s 52.4 million ton harvest, which was hurt by drought and Asian soybean rust.

Conab, the supply arm of Brazil’s agriculture ministry, which recently pegged the crop at 58.2 MMT, said on Feb. 10 that it would release a supplementary crop report because dry conditions in parts of Paraná have led to significant crop reductions. However, that added crop data will not be released until March 20.

Editors note: Richard Brock, The Corn and Soybean Digest's Marketing Editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.

To see more market perspectives, visit Brock's Web site at www.brockreport.com.