By Isabel Teles and Ana Mano
SAO PAULO, Oct. 13 (Reuters) – Brazil’s soybean planting for the 2025/26 season reached 14% of the expected area as of Thursday, marking the third-fastest progress for the date in the world’s largest producer and exporter, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday.
Brazilian soybean farmers are expected to cultivate the oilseed on a little over 48 million hectares (118.610 million acres) this season, according to private consultancies.
Hedgepoint Global reiterated expectations on Monday that soybean production will be 178 million tons in 2025/26, an all-time record if confirmed.
The pace of sowing is up from 9% a week earlier and ahead of the 8% recorded at the same time last year, AgRural said, noting better-than-expected progress in Brazil’s biggest farm state Mato Grosso and a record pace in Parana state.
Early soybean planting means farmers will be able to plant second corn, which is planted on the same areas after soy is harvested, inside the ideal climate window later in the season. But right now the focus is on first corn.
Planting of the country’s first 2025/26 corn crop reached 45% of the projected area in the key center-south region, versus 41% a year earlier, AgRural said.
In the south, excess moisture is hindering the completion of first corn’s sowing work in some areas, AgRural said.
In the southeast and central-west regions, which have a later planting calendar, the still-dry soil is delaying the start of first corn sowing, the consultancy added.
(Reporting by Isabel Teles and Ana Mano; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Mark Porter)
