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Brazil grain harvest drags in flood-hit state, food silos jeopardized, Emater says

The harvesting of grains such as soy, corn and rice in Brazil's flooddevastated Rio Grande do Sul advanced gradually in the recently as relentless rains and stubbornly high waters fail to decrease, interrupting work.

According to state crop company Emater on Thursday, soybean harvesting in the nation's second-largest producing state reached 85% of the area, up from 78% recently, even as weather condition conditions remained unfavorable and severely damaged crops.

There was a sharp decrease in grain quality in contrast to the item gotten before the excess rain, Emater stated, referring to soybeans.

The company predicted part of the soy location that stays to be gathered in Rio Grande do Sul could be abandoned because it would be uneconomical for farmers to reap their beans under the present conditions.

The fatal floods, which submerged entire towns and damaged important facilities, led projections to cut the state's soy production quote in between 1.78 million tons and 3 million heaps in recent days.

In the town of Canoas, 100,000 lots of soybeans are at risk after a storage facility coming from privately owned soy crusher Bianchini was flooded.

Emater kept in mind that rice silos also were compromised after floods struck those structures, causing power blackouts and preventing the ventilation of grains. The agency likewise emphasized the impossibility to move produce from the impacted storage systems due to damaged roadways.

To date, there is no precise estimate of the variety of rice silos flooded by water, Emater stated. Farmers have yet to harvest 14% of their rice fields in Rio Grande do Sul, it included.

In Frederico Westphalen, corn silage silos were damaged by rain or suffered water seepage, creating substantial losses, Emater said.

Rains and high air humidity over recent weeks have triggered both quantitative and qualitative losses to corn, the agency said.

Once again, in the couple of harvest opportunities that emerged, soybeans were focused on over corn, Emater stated. This resulted on an increase of just 2% of the corn area harvested from the previous week, to 88%.

(source: Reuters)