February 24, 2006

Soy output from Brazil's Minas Gerais may fall 8 percent

Dry weather in regions in Minas Gerais will result in an 8 percent reduction in the state's 2005/06 soy output, the state's Secretary of Agriculture said Thursday Feb 23.

"This year's drought was very expressive in regions like the Triangulo Mineiro (Minas Triangle) and that's where the losses are coming from," said Joao Ricardo Albanez, an agriculture economist at the Secretary of Agriculture.

Albanez said that some regions have been without rain for as long as a month. Minas Gerais is Brazil's sixth largest soy producer.

"It has affected small producers, mostly, but when you add them all together, you get a significant reduction in total crop size," Albanez said.

The state was expecting to harvest 2.8 million tonnes of soybeans in 2005/06 and is now looking at a 2.6-million-tonne harvest, according to state government estimates.

Brazil's national crop estimate for 2005/06 is 58.1 million tonnes, according to official data from January. The government is recalculating their last estimate, however, because of dry weather problems in regions of Parana, Bahia and elsewhere. The next official estimate should be available in the third week of March.