Drought takes toll on soybean harvest in Goiás but spares Paraná

Brazil’s fourth-largest soybean producing State, Goiás, fell prey to a dry spell in December last year. Farmers are reporting as much as 10% loss in yields, particularly the southern part of the state. On the contrary, the country’s second-largest producer, Paraná, remained mostly unaffected by the drought with only 6% of the crops in poor condition. According to state agricultural research body, Deral, 25% of the 2018/19 soy planted area has already been harvested. Paraná soybean producers should collect approximately 16.8m tons of harvest this season, according to the organisation.

Meanwhile, in Goiás, farmers decided to stop selling the produce of this month’s soybean harvest until the price of the commodity turns favorable. Nevertheless, soy growers have already sold 50% of the production on futures contract from the second semester of 2018. The main buyer is soy hungry China.

Grain consultancy firm AgRural has lowered its estimate of Brazil’s soybean harvest to 116.9m tons down from 121.4m tons in November due to worse than expected dry conditions in the southern soy belt of the country. 

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