February 11, 2004

Drought To Affect Brazil's Parana Soy Crop Harvest

The soy crop harvest in Brazil's southern state of Parana, the country's second largest soy producer, will be 6.7% less than previous estimates due to drought in the west and north of the state, the state's agriculture department, Seab, said Tuesday.

According to research carried out by the state's agriculture research institute Deral, soy production in 2003-04 will total 11.1 million metric tons, down 700,000 tons from initial estimates of 11.8 million tons.

"Rains have been very scattered and around a quarter of the crop, or 1 million hectares, has suffered from some drought," Deral agronomist Otmar Hubnar said.

He added that the Toledo region in the west of the state has suffered most, with losses of 22% on initial expectations. Production in the west of the state will be 15% lower than originally estimated, while the north will suffer losses of 7%, according to Hubnar.

Productivity levels this season have now been revised to 2,837 kilograms per hectare, down from 3,030 kilograms in the previous estimate. The state's total soy planted area is 3.9 million hectares.

"Other regions have received good levels of rainfall and could eventually compensate for some of the losses, but not all," said Hubnar.