South America Calling

Brazil's soybean harvest nears its completion with field work progressing quickly in the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, AgRural, a local farm consultancy, said.

The 2013-14 harvest was 91% complete as of last Thursday, six percentage points ahead of last week and 11 points ahead of the five-year average, said the consultancy.

Field work was 82% complete in Rio Grande do Sul, well ahead of the 49% registered this time last year. In neighboring Parana, efforts were 93% complete with the outstanding work to be done in the south of the state.

Dry weather has allowed the southern harvest to run smoothly of late, but forecast rain in Rio Grande do Sul this week will likely slow efforts.

The north and northeast is the only region with significant volumes of soybeans left to harvest. The region had collected 66% of the crop as of Thursday, down from 77% last year.

AgRural pegs Brazil's 2013-14 crop at 85.6 million metric tons (mmt), which is at the low end of the range of forecasts.

(AG)

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