March 25, 2004

Brazil's Parana Holds Soy Estimate At 10.2 MMT
 
Brazil's southern state of Parana, the country's No. 2 soy producer, has maintained its estimate for the 2003-04 soybean crop at 10.2 million metric tons, the state's agriculture department, Seab, said Wednesday.
 
In a previous report, earlier in March, the state's agriculture research institute Deral said output could fall below 10 million tons because of a prolonged drought in January and February.
 
"There was some doubt about late soy in the southeast and center-south regions, which were hit by drought during the flowering and pod-filling period," said Deral agronomist Vera de Rocha Zardo. She added, however, that recent rains helped reverse some of the damage in these areas.
 
Losses in the west, center-west and north of the state, where planting took place earlier, have been confirmed, however, leading to the sharp reduction in original estimates of a record 11.9 million-ton crop.
 
According to Zardo, rains during the second week of March eased the critical situation, but there are still moisture deficiencies in some areas, particularly the west of the state. Nearly half of the state's crop has already been harvested.
 
Last year Parana produced 10.9 million tons of soy.