Palm | Kelapa Sawit

SAO PAULO, April 16 (Reuters) - Sales of Brazil's 2011/12 soybean crop rose to 72 percent of the total expected production of 67.9 million tonnes, up from 70 percent a week earlier, local grain analysts Celeres said on Monday.

Harvest is in the final few weeks across the soy belt, where rain has been less than optimal this year. Dry weather has slashed about 10 million tonnes off expected output from the world's No. 2 soybean producer.

Celeres said harvest has reached 88 percent of the crop area by April 13, up from 82 percent in the week prior. Last year at this time, 85 percent of the crop had been collected. Harvest has essentially finished in the No. 1 soybean state Mato Grosso, No. 2 soy state Parana, No. 4 soy state Goias and No. 5 Mato Grosso do Sul.

No. 3 soy state Rio Grande do Sul is the only major producer to still be harvesting. The southernmost state has harvested 56 percent of its crop by the week ending April 13, Celeres said in a weekly bulletin on the soy crop. The south has been worst hit by this season's drought.

Rio Grande do Sul is due to get heavy rain later this week that will be too late to help parched crops but could slow harvesting. As the wet weather pushes across the rest of the grain belt it will help the development of the second, or winter, corn planting which expanded to record area this year.

The second crop is planted directly following the harvest of the summer soy and corn crops.

Brazil is the world's second biggest soybean producer after the United States and is expected to surpass it to become the largest exporter of the oilseed this year for the first time
since 2005/06.