SAO PAULO (Reuters) -The 2022/23 soybean harvest is moving slowly in Brazil, the largest producer and exporter of the oilseed, lagging behind the pace of work in previous years, data from specialists showed on Friday.
In the survey by consultancy Pátria AgroNegócios, 9.86% of the cultivated area was harvested this season, compared to 20.4% seen in the same period of the previous cycle and a historical average of 12.5% for this time of year.
Rondônia continues to lead field work since last week, since in Mato Grosso this week’s acceleration was still “measured”, he said in a note. Producers from Mato Grosso harvested almost a quarter of the crops.
“Field results are still satisfactory, especially in central Brazil. Reports of some plots with record productivity, but we also noticed very disappointing results in parts of the southwest of Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul”, said the consultancy.
In the analysis of Safras & Mercado, 7.8% of the areas were harvested until this Friday, against 4.4% in the previous week.
A year earlier, 17.1% of the areas were harvested and the historical average for the period is 10%, according to the analysis.
In Mato Grosso, the main producer of oilseeds, the institute linked to producers Imea reported that 24.05% of the areas were harvested, a weekly increase of 10.44 percentage points, but also with a delay in relation to other years.
In the same period of the previous cycle, 46.66% of the areas had been harvested and the historical average is 31.93%, according to IMEA.
With the delay in the removal of soybeans, the planting of the second crop in Mato Grosso is also postponed, with corn sowing reaching 16.41% of the area, against 41.9% a year before and an average of 31.51% for the last five years.
In the case of cotton second crop, IMEA informed that 67.37% of the area was planted, versus 86.83% in the same period of the previous year and historical average of 81.30%.
(Reporting by Nayara Figueiredo; Editing by Roberto Samora and Marta Nogueira)