Soy: Planting in Parana reaches 33pc

Soybean planting in Brazil's southern state of Parana has advanced to only 33pc of the expected areafor this season, with crops still posting worse conditions from a year prior amid unfavorable weather.

Planting rose by 11 percentage points through the latest week but remains behind the 47pc seen at the same time in 2018. Sowing of the 2019-20 crop in the state is expected to continue until December by which time 5.5mn hectares (13.6mn acres) of soybean should have been planted, according to Parana's Department of Rural Economics (Deral-PR).

Lack of rainfall has been hampering planting activity in the Brazilian state, the second-largest producer of the oilseed. Over the last 30 days, rains were on average 150 millimeters below normal for this moment in the year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

There have even been some reports of farmers that were forced to replant soybean in fields severely affected by the drought last month, when sowing kicked off in Parana.

So far, 62pc of the soybean already planted has been classified as "good" by Deral-PR, while another 37pc was "average" and 1pc "bad". A year ago, all the plantings had a "good" classification.

Parana is expected to produce nearly 20mn metric tons (t) of soybean in the current season. Harvest peak in the state is during the first quarter.