February 9, 2007

Conab sees 2006/07 Brazil soy crop at 56.3 million tonnes

Brazil should harvest a record 56.3 million tonnes of soybeans in the 2006/07 crop, the National Commodities Supply Corp (Conab), said Thursday (Feb 8).

As expected, the estimate is higher than the 54.9 million tonnes forecast last month.

Conab's crop estimate remains the most conservative of all current crop estimates for the 2006/07 soy crop. On Wednesday, the government statistics bureau, IBGE, put the crop at 56.4 million tonnes and the Brazilian Vegetable Oils Industry Association, or Abiove, put it at 57.1 million tonnes.

Over the last several weeks, new occurrences of Asian soybean rust have been found throughout the south and center-west soy belt. Until now, no productivity losses have been reported.

Brazil is the world's no. 2 soy producer behind the US.