February 4, 2011

Brazilian soy crop seen at record 68.8 million tonnes

Brazil's new soy crop that began early harvesting in the past several days was forecast at a record 68.8 million tonnes, compared with the 67.2 million tonnes projected in January, grain-crushing industry association Abiove said on Thursday (Feb 3).

That would best Brazil's 68.7 million tonne record from the previous September-August crop, Abiove said.

Abiove did not say why it revised its outlook on the current crop, but the trend of rising forecasts for Brazil's new crop has been spreading.

Last week, forecasters raised their projection to a record 70.3 million tonnes, up from 68.4 million tonnes forecast in December, due to favorable rains over most of the soy belt since November.

On Wednesday (Feb 2), economists of Brazil's No. 1 soy producing state Mato Grosso, raised its forecast for the center-west state to a record 19.2 million tonnes, up from 18.6 million in December. The state harvested 18.8 million tonnes last crop.

La Nina, which tends to create drier weather over Brazil's grain belt, has not caused major losses to the current crop and favorable wet weather has induced forecasters to improve their initial views of the new crop.