May 9, 2007

 

Conab: Brazil's 2006/07 soy crop seen at 57.5 million tonnes 

 

 

Brazil should harvest 57.5 million tonnes of soybeans from the 2006/07 crop, a number 0.7 percent lower than the estimate the National Commodities Supply Corp (Conab) made in March.

 

The April crop figures were released Tuesday (May 8).

 

Conab said that dry weather towards the end of the harvest season in the centre-west and south had caused minor crop damage. In March, Conab said Brazil should harvest 57.9 million tonnes from the 2006/07 season.

 

The crop is 95 percent harvested and will be complete this month, Conab said.

 

Conab's figures are the lowest crop estimates in the Brazilian market at this time. The Brazilian Vegetable Oils Industry Association, or Abiove, has put the crop closer to 59 million tonnes.

 

In Brazil's leading soy producer state, Mato Grosso, Conab estimates production of 15.3 million tonnes, down 3.8 percent from the 2005/06 season. Yields for the state were put at 2,980 kilogrammes per hectare, up 10.6 percent from the previous season.

 

In the no. 2 soy producing state, Parana, total output is seen at 11.8 million tonnes, up 25.6 percent from the 2005/06 season. Yields for Parana are put at 3,000 kg a hectare, one of the best yields seen on a national level this year. In 2005/06, Parana yields were just 2,390 kg a hectare because of dry weather.

 

Rio Grande do Sul, the no. 3 soy producer, should harvest 9.2 million tonnes, up 22.2 percent from the previous season. The state's yields are seen at 2,360 kg per hectare, up 22 percent from the previous season.

 

Conab said that soy crop production declined 8.8 percent in the northern Amazon states, with planted area down 19 percent.