Uruguay’s 20/21 soybean planted area to expand 5%: Unicampo

Uruguay’s soybean planted area could increase by up to 5% in the 2020/21 crop cycle compared with the previous crop, local consultancy firm Unicampo has told Agricensus.

The preliminary area planted with soybeans is expected to reach approximately 1.05 million hectares, Unicampo’s general director Esteban Hoffman told Agricensus.

However, Hoffman highlighted that soybean sowing is being affected by a lack of water in some areas of the country.

Uruguay exported a total of 1.96 million mt of soybeans in the first nine months of the year, with 63% heading to China, compared with 2.27 million mt in the same period of 2019, with 72% heading to China according to Uruguay XXI.

Uruguay’s 2019/20 soybean crop reached 2 million mt, well behind the initial estimate of 3 million mt, according to previous government data with lower production down to severe drought that hit several growing regions in the south of the country including San Jose, Florida and Maldonado.

For the 2020/21 crop season, the USDA expects total soybean production to reach 2.09 million mt, down compared with 1.99 million mt in the previous crop and 2.83 million mt in the 2018/19 cycle.