March 7, 2007

Conab: Brazil's 2006/07 corn crop at 48.7 million tonnes

Brazil should harvest 48.7 million tonnes of corn in its two 2006/07 crops, the National Commodities Supply Corp (Conab) said Tuesday (Mar 6).

In February, Conab said Brazil should harvest around 47.9 million tonnes. Last season, Brazil harvested 42.5 million tonnes.

High international corn prices, and the expectation that the US corn ethanol market will take some of the dominant US corn exports out of the market, have farmers more interested in corn this year. Farmers in the south are currently planting winter crop corn.

According to private estimates from consulting groups and brokerage firms such as Agroconsult and Cerealpar, Brazil should export at least 6 million tonnes of corn in 2007, compared with around 4 million in 2006.

Corn is Brazil's no. 2 crop in both acreage and output behind soybeans. Most of it is used for local consumption, the bulk of it for animal feed.

As for Brazil's 2007 corn exports, Conab Tuesday stated that it could total 6.5 million tonnes.