Brazil is thirsty for rain to stabilize its crops soon.
In this week?s South American weather and crop update on the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network, Allendale commodity broker Greg McBride says Brazil remains dry as production in parts of the safrinha crop continues to suffer.
?As we look at South America, it is dry, Brazil particularly,? McBride said. ?We?re watching that safrinha crop and continuing to see spots of that production dwindle a little bit. We?re down to somewhere between 95 and 102 million metric tons as far as estimates go, so a very wide range. It?s still in the range of what they had last year, but there are obviously still concerns as we move forward.?
McBride says there are patches of rain in the forecast, but it?s not widespread.
?The 1-to-5 day does have some rains in the far southern portion of Brazil, but nothing in the bulk of the country,? McBride said. ?Same thing in the 6-to-10 day, actually with even less in the southern portion, so there still will be concerns about production down there as well.?
McBride also provided a harvest progress update for South America.
?We?ll take a look at Argentina since Brazil is done,? McBride said. ?Argentina is 90% done with their soybean harvest. That is ahead of the 5-year average by about 7%. Corn, however, is really lagging at this point, sitting at about 43%, which is only about a 3% increase from last week. They are about 20% behind where they were at last year and about 6% behind the 5-year average. That?ll be a concern as they move forward, but the big thing is that the soybean crop is almost completed down there.?
McBride added that the weather will continue to be a major concern going forward. The team at Allendale can be reached by calling 800-262-7538, or you can visit Allendale-inc.com.
