Possibility of new locust clouds in Argentina is causing alarm
Government announced an investment of US$ 550 million to build a port for grains. “We are announcing investments for the construction of a new agro-industrial port in Timbúes, on the Paraná River”, according to the spokesperson for the presidency, Manuel Adorni. (Government of Argentina)
This week a lot of rainfall in a large part of the country, benefiting summer crops under development in the main productive regions. In the North, rainfall was significant, particularly in the province of Corrientes, where it reached 290 mm. Corn is between the flowering and grain filling stage in the province of Buenos Aires, while in other provinces it is between vegetative growth (late crops) and grain filling (early crops). First soybean crop is between the flowering and grain filling stages, while the second crop is mostly in the flowering phase. (INTA)
Possibility of new locust clouds in Argentina is causing alarm. National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service declared a state of phytosanitary alert to perform preventive measures to detect and control the insects. “The alert aims to avoid critical situations like the ones that happened in previous years, highlighting that, so far, there are no waves of [locust] migration, but conditions are in place for this to occur in the short term. This is the reason why it is necessary to act quickly and efficiently to contain the insect”, said the general coordinator of Contingencies and Emergencies at Senasa, Héctor Medina. (Senasa)
Sugarcane mills will increase sugar production capacity by up to 10% during the new season, which begins in April, in order to take advantage of higher sugar prices and the supply of corn, which makes the grain a cheap input for ethanol production. “All the mills that can do this [increase sugar production capacity] are doing it,” according to Julio Maria Borges, managing partner of the consulting firm JOB Economia e Planejamento. “The difference in financial returns between sugar and ethanol is simply too big”. (JOB Economia e Planejamento)
Paulo Sousa, CEO of Cargill in Brazil, said that the recent increase of judicial reorganization requests [court-supervised process that allows insolvent companies to suspend debts and negotiate new terms, similar to Chapter 11 Law] by farmers is a concern. “There is an increase of judicial recoveries, a legal novelty that brings a lot of concern”, according to Sousa, who assesses that this situation puts the cost of credit in agriculture at risk. “This brings insecurity for the financier. There was a lot of new money entering Brazilian agriculture in recent years and it is a risk. We have to be very careful regarding credit”. (Cargill)
According to consultant Carlos Cogo, from the consulting firm Cogo Assessoria em Agronegócio, despite crop failure in some regions due to the weather, mainly in the States of Mato Grosso and Paraná, Brazil is still expected to achieve the second largest soybean harvest in history. (Cogo Assessoria em Agronegócio)
State of Mato Grosso do Sul’s agribusiness GDP showed the highest growth among Brazilian States in 2023, with a rate of 32%. State is followed by Tocantins (25.6%), Mato Grosso (23.5%) and Paraná (22.9%). (Banco do Brasil)
Lower House of Congress has approved the “Fire Law” Project, which now goes to the Senate for review. Project aims to regulate prevention of forest and rural fires. Objective is to strengthen fire prevention strategies through creation of State instruments and institutions, mainly seeking to identify areas with higher probability of fires, according to maps prepared by the National Forest Service – Conaf. The Executive Director of Conaf, Christian Little, said that “what happened today is great news because this is not a ‘patched-up’ law. This is a structural law, which gets to the root of problems and works on them in a short, medium and long term perspective”. (Ministry of Agriculture)
Colombian Federation of Livestock Farmers vaccinated 651,000 head of cattle against foot-and-mouth disease in six departments bordering Venezuela. Vaccination reached 37.7% of the total population of 1.7 million head of cattle under 24 months. (Fedegan)
Coffee production in February reached 961 thousand bags, a drop of 6% compared to the same period in 2023. 2023/24 harvest reached 5.5 million tonnes, 16% more than in 2022/23, when production reached 4.8 million tonnes. (FNC)
Víctor Villalobos Arámbula, Minister of Agriculture, said that Mexico’s agricultural production has managed to conquer the most demanding markets, such as Japan. Mexico exports more than US$ 1.3 billion in food and beverages to Japan, the second most important destination in Mexican agricultural exports, second only to the USA. (Ministry of Agriculture)
Paraguay finished the 2023/24 soybean harvest with an estimated 10 million tonnes and a lot of variation in yields, with regions of low productivity compensated by very productive locations. Sales are at a standstill in the face of low prices and tight margins: farmers are delaying sales as much as possible, while they are moving forward with off-season crops, be it soybeans, which saw an increase in planting in the off-season, or corn. (APS)
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