SAO PAULO, July 26 (Reuters) – The area planted with soy in Brazil in 2016/17 should grow 2 percent to 33.8 million hectares as some farmers favor corn, Chicago-based analysts AGR Brasil told Reuters on Tuesday.
Brazil is facing a corn shortage, driving local prices up to record highs and changing a trend of farmers favoring soybeans in recent years. Soy planting will start in late September but farmers need to finalize their decisions now.
“The increase in summer corn, in our opinion will not threaten the increase in soy area but will merely limit its growth,” AGR Brasil’s President Pedro Dejneka said in an interview.
The soy crop could be 98 million to 108 million tonnes, according to AGR Brasil.
“The forecast is still for La Niña … but it is possible that it is a moderate La Nina,” Dejneka said, explaining that the climate phenomenon tends to lead to favorable rains and temperatures in most agricultural areas.
La Nina, however, tends to hurt the far southern state of Rio Grande do Sul as well as neighboring Argentina, he said.
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