By Roberto Samora
SAO PAULO, May 6 (Reuters) – Brazilian farmers are poised to expand the area planted with soybeans by around 500,000 hectares in the 2025/26 season which starts in September in key growing regions, Andre Pessoa, president of agribusiness consultancy Agroconsult, said on Tuesday during an event.
In the current season, Brazilian farmers planted a record 47.8 million hectares (118.116 million acres) with soybeans, according to Agroconsult’s calculations.
The result was a massive crop, as Brazilian farmers harvested an unprecedented soybean volume of 172.1 million tons, Agroconsult said in March after concluding a national tour of fields.
Most of Brazil’s soy is shipped to China, which is now in the middle of a trade war with the United States.
Pessoa noted Brazilian farmers are expected to sow more soybeans in spite of the fact they are also forecast to plant a larger area with first corn in the summer. First corn competes with soy for space in some parts of Southern Brazil when a new season starts.
“We will witness a residual growth of the soybean area in Brazil,” Pessoa said about the upcoming season, adding this will be more notable in the Center-West and Northeast of Brazil, the world’s largest soy exporter and producer.
He cautioned, however, that the growth of Brazil’s soy area will not keep up with the pace of previous years, when it grew by 2 million hectares in a single season.
(Reporting by Roberto Samora; Writing by Ana Mano; Editing by Chris Reese and Alistair Bell)