March 23, 2006

Dry weather brings mixed soy yields in Brazil's Bahia

Soy yields in Bahia, northeast Brazil's largest soy producer, range from 20 to as many as 55 60-kg bags per hectare, with the lowest yields mostly due to dry weather in the western part of the state, AgroConsult, an agribusiness consultancy, said in a press release.

AgroConsult participated in a cross-country tour this week examining the 2005/06 soy crop.

Younger crops suffered the most from a 39-day drought in January and early February. Those crops will likely yield between 20 and 30 bags per hectare. More mature crops in other parts of the state handled bouts with dry weather quite well and should produce at least 35 bags per hectare to as much as 55 bags per hectare in regions where rain fall proved adequate, AgroConsult said in the Monday press release.

Dry weather in the western part of the state has led Brazil's National Commodities Supply Corp (Conab) to reduce Bahia 2005/06 yield estimates to 2,280 kg per hectare on Monday, compared with 2,520 kg estimated in early January.

The current yield estimate is equal to 38 bags per hectare. Bahia is expected to produce 2 million tonnes of soybeans, compared with earlier estimates of 2.2 million tonnes, according to Conab.

Bahia harvested 2.4 million tonnes in the 2004/05 crop.