June 6, 2007

Brazil lowers corn estimate by 0.8 percent to 50.6 million tonnes 

The National Commodities Supply Corp, or Conab, lowered its 2006/07 corn crop outlook Tuesday (Jun 5) by 0.8 percent to 50.6 million tonnes because of poor weather conditions.

Dry weather in the centre-west and frost in the south of Parana in May led to a yield reduction of 5 percent overall to 3,189 kilogrammes per hectare.

Total output is roughly 19 percent greater than the 2005/06 season.

Brazil planted 13.8 million hectares of corn this season, up from 12.9 million in 2005/06. Conab raised its monthly planted area estimate by roughly 300,000 hectares.