The greater presence of buyers in the paddy rice market in Rio Grande do Sul has been favoring liquidity and supporting prices. According to researchers from the Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics (Cepea) at Esalq/USP, companies aim to renew their stocks amid the advance of the harvest, seeking the product even in regions further away from their units.
Yesterday (23/4), the Cepea/Irga-RS indicator presented an average price of R$ 103.77 for a 50-kilo bag, an accumulated increase of 4.68% since the beginning of April.
The rice harvest reached 67% of the sown area in Rio Grande do Sul, according to the Instituto Riograndense de Arroz (Irga), last Monday, an increase of 9 percentage points in one week.
At the Estância da Gruta farm, in Capão do Leão, work is further advanced and the harvest ended on Sunday. According to Antonio Quinto Di Cameli, managing partner of the property, the result was 235 bags per hectare of clean and dry rice. “Due to the challenges we face, we estimate a loss of up to 10 bags per hectare. However, we managed to have a historic harvest, the result of the combined efforts between employees, consultancy and partners”, he said, in a note.
The lack of energy that affected the southern region of Rio Grande do Sul due to storms and had an impact on the profitability of the harvest. Without electricity for more than seven consecutive days, the Grotto’s own drying process was interrupted, making it impossible to use its warehouses.
Di Cameli highlighted that this led the property to direct almost 30% of the harvest to third-party structures and silos, generating drying and storage costs. “But the important thing is to have the grain in the silo. It wouldn’t be worth waiting to harvest and risking a high-potential crop,” he added.
