Santos, Brazil — Brazilian corn farmers have harvested 49% of the second crop of the 2017-18 season as of Thursday, a 13-percentage point jump from the week earlier, consultant AgRural said Friday.
The harvest rate, however, is 63% below the year-ago date and 55% under the 5-year average, said AgRural in its weekly report.
"Dry weather and a forecast for little rain in the near future have encouraged farmers, in the most delayed regions, to keep the corn unharvested on the fields, so the grains dry naturally, avoiding the cost of drying them inside the elevators," it said.
AgRural pointed to delays in the Center-West region of Brazil, the country's most important grain producer. However, the harvest is happening at a reasonable speed in Mato Grosso state, largest Brazilian corn producer, it said.
Mato Grosso has harvested 80% of the crop, down from 89% last year but up
from the 5-year average 79% for this period. In the South, Parana state is way behind its average. While the harvest advanced 14 percentage points in the past week, reaching 20%, it is still down from 57% one year ago.
Brazil is one of the world's largest corn exporters, and the second corn crop -- planted right after the summer soybean crop- - is the main source for the country's international sales.
Brazilian second corn crop is currently projected at 57.1 million mt, down from 67.4 million mt in 2016-17, according to an AgRural forecast in early July.
The total corn crop for 2017-18 is projected at 83.8 million mt, down from 97.8 million mt in 2016-17.
