Imea maintains projection for 22/23 soybeans in Mato Grosso at 42.8 million t, with an upward bias – ISTOÉ DINHEIRO

By Nayara Figueiredo

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Soy production in Mato Grosso should reach a record 42.8 million tons in the 2022/23 harvest, the Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural Economics (Imea) said on Monday, maintaining the projection released at the beginning of the month.

The institute’s expectation may still increase, depending on the results obtained by the end of the harvest, which reached 76.27% last Friday, commented the superintendent of Imea, Cleiton Gauer, in a videoconference.

If confirmed, oilseed production will already represent an annual increase of 4.82% for the largest Brazilian soy producer.

Along the same lines, the outlook for corn second crop production in the State was maintained at 46.4 million tons, driven mainly by the increase in planting area, estimated at 3.78%, to 7.42 million hectares.

The cereal harvest, if confirmed, will be 5.87% greater than that harvested in the previous year, according to the data, despite 20% of crops being planted outside the most productive period.

“The delay we saw in the soy harvest ends up being impacted in the sowing of corn and cotton… we’ve seen in recent years and on average,” said Gauer.

On the other hand, he stated that meteorological forecasts indicate that Mato Grosso should receive rainfall with averages above 60 millimeters over the next 60 days, “which provides conditions for areas to develop in the State”.

Gauer pointed out that anticipated sales of the 2022/23 corn crop have taken place at a slower pace, with producers cautious about negotiating large volumes before the harvest results and also in the face of uncertainties about the prices that will be practiced in the market.

Planting of the second corn crop in south-central Brazil reached 39.1% of the estimated area of ​​14.9 million hectares, according to a survey by consulting firm Safras & Mercado released this Monday, with data up to February 24.

In the same period last year, cultivation reached 52.4% in the region that includes Mato Grosso, while the average planting rate in the last five years is 48.7%.

In the Matopiba region –comprising Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia– the sowing of the “safrinha” reached 10% of the estimated area of ​​1.244 million hectares, against 4.6% a year before and a historical average of 2.8 %.

While some states are planting the second crop of corn, others are in the process of harvesting the summer grain. According to Safras, the removal of corn from the fields reached 27.6% in Brazil, delayed compared to 39% a year earlier, but above the historical average of 25.2%.

The superintendent of the Imea also pointed out that the forecast for the production of cotton in Mato Grosso was also maintained, in relation to the beginning of the month, at 1.936 million tons of lint, an increase of 6.8% in relation to the previous season.

(Reporting by Nayara Figueiredo)