June 6, 2012

Brazil's Conab cuts soy crop expectations, ups corn 

Brazil's 2011-12 soy crop is expected to be lower while favourable weather has given a more positive outlook for the country's upcoming winter corn crop, according to Brazilian agricultural forecasting agency Conab on Tuesday (June 5).

Conab said Brazil, the world's No. 2 soy grower after the US, harvested 66.37 million tonnes of the oilseed in the 2011-12 crop, which has practically finished. The latest estimate was down from Conab's May view of 66.68 million tonnes and represented a 12% decline from the record 2010-11 soy crop, as a drought in some major growing region damaged fields.

Brazil's 2011-12 corn production, on the other hand, will likely be bolstered by a strong winter harvest that should more than offset drought-related losses in the country's summer crop, Conab said.

Total corn output for the year is expected to reach a record 67.79 million tonnes, up 18% from 2010-11 and 2.9% more than Conab had forecast in early May.

While Brazil's main summer corn crop was 2.9% smaller this year than last, Conab expects the winter crop, which will be harvested in the coming months, to exceed last year's by 53%.

"Brazilian [corn] production will be larger due to a combination of factors: an increase in the area sown, greater use of technology, and, in the case of the second crop, favourable weather conditions in the majority of producing states," Conab said.

The agency also hiked its estimate for Brazil's 2011-12 corn exports to 11 million tonnes from 10.5 million tonnes forecasted last month.