Corn Prices in Mato Grosso Continue to Disappoint

Farmers in Mato Grosso, which is Brazil’s largest corn producing state, have planted all their 2023/24 safrinha corn crop. The state is expected to reduce the safrinha acreage by 10% to 6.63 million hectares (16.3 million acres) or approximately 43% of Brazil’s total.

Producers are complaining about low corn prices and rightly so. The Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural Economics (Imea) announced that the average corn price in the state last week was R$ 34.22 per sack (approximately $3.15 per bushel), which was down 1.4% from the prior week.

In their March Crop Report, Conab estimated that Brazil would produce 112,75 million tons of corn in 2023/24 (down 14.5%) and that the safrinha production would be 87.34 million tons (down 14.7%), or 77% of Brazil’s total corn production.

Safrinha corn is planted in January, February, and early March after soybeans are harvested. The corn is then harvested in June, July, and August. Conab estimated that the safrinha corn acreage in Brazil would decline 8.3% in 2023/24 due to low corn prices.

Tags: Mato Grosso, crop, acreage, safrinha corn, planted, corn, Brazil, prices, Production