MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Abundant rainfall in central Brazil helps Paraná River recover navigable level

The Rosario Exchange highlighted that no negative values had been registered in the Parana River around the city since December 1970.

After years of forcibly lighter shiploads due to the intense down flow of the Parana River, the water level has begun to grow again, especially in the last couple of months. Thus according to the Rosario Grain Exchange, the average shipload of vessels sailing upriver rose 21% in two months and stood at more than 38,000 tons in November. Furthermore, the current water level is 23% above November last year and 19% above the November 2020 average.

Last year, the decrease in water levels was close to the record lowest in nearly seventy years, to that of 1944. As of July 2021, the Paraná reached negative levels, which persisted until February of this year.

The Rosario Exchange highlighted that no negative values had been registered in the Parana River around the city since December 1970.

According to the group, “fortunately, the growth in water levels in the Parana in recent months has been impressive. For the first time since August 2019, when the water level could be found below one meter, the river at the Rosario terminal facilities exceeded three meters last November.”

“Although the water level at Up River ports may drop below one meter in the coming weeks,” said the Argentine National Water Institute, “the Paraná river is in normal conditions today. Furthermore, even though the outlook has been less than ideal in previous years, a return to critical levels is not foreseen shortly, despite the severe drought that has plagued the country.”

Moreover, the Rosario Exchange explained that the improvement in water levels is due to the greater volume of rain in the southern Brazil basin.

Significant rainfall anomalies were recorded in central west of Brazil between August and October of this year, primarily in the states of Mato Grosso and Paraná. In large areas of these important agricultural regions, rainfall was 200 millimeters above the historical rainfall averages, which besides the Paraná level recovery, also explains the potent agricultural season that Brazil is headed for.