April 5, 2007

 

Brazil's official new soy crop estimate at 57.9 million tonnes

 

 

Brazil's new official soy crop estimate came in at 57.9 million tonnes, up 1.2 million tonnes from the March 6 estimate, the National Commodities Supply Corp, or Conab, said Wednesday (Apr 4).

 

The number is now appearing closer to private estimates that have put Brazil's current soy crop as high as a record-breaking 60 million tonnes.

 

Despite a 1.5-million-hectare reduction this season to 20.7 million hectares, good weather conditions all year long made this one of the best growing seasons Brazilian farmers have seen in three years.

 

Brazil harvested 53.4 million tonnes last year, much of the crop lost to Asian soybean rust and dry weather in pockets of Parana, Mato Grosso do Sul and Bahia.

 

Average yields rose 16.6 percent to 2,802 kilogrammes per hectare, Conab said.

 

Mato Grosso, the leading soy-producing state, should harvest 15.2 million tonnes, 4 percent less than the previous season due to a 12 percent reduction in planted area.

 

No. 2 producer Parana state is expected to harvest 12.1 million tonnes of soybeans, up 29 percent from the 2005/06 season.

 

No. 3 producer Rio Grande do Sul is expected to harvest 8.9 million tonnes, up 19.6 percent from the 2005/06 season.

 

Brazil is the world's second biggest soy producer and exporter behind the US.