April 3, 2007

Brazil's Parana raises 2006/07 soy crop estimate to 11.9 million tonnes

Brazil's Parana state raised its 2006/07 soy crop estimate to 11.9 million tonnes from the 11.8 million estimated last month, the state's Secretary of Agriculture said Monday (Apr 2).

Parana is the no. 2 soy-producing state in Brazil.

Good weather conditions all season contributed to the bigger crop. In 2005/06, Parana harvested 9.3 million tonnes. The crop had problems in the western part of the state because of dry weather.

Some 66.6 percent of the crop has been harvested as of March 26 compared with 54.3 percent harvested at this time during the 2005/06 crop year.

According to the state government, at least 22.5 percent of the crop has been sold compared to 14 percent at this time last year. The figure calculates farmer sales to cooperatives and not cooperative sales to exporters and other buyers.

The National Commodities Supply Corp will release an official soy crop estimate for the entire country on Thursday. The last estimate, made on March 6, put the crop at 56.7 million tonnes.