August 10, 2009

Brazil's grain production will fall from 146 million tonnes to 134.4 in 2009, a 7.9 percent decrease from last year, a Brazilian agency reported Thursday (August 6).

Forecast by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) show that this year's grain output is 0.8 percentage points lower than the institute's figure in its last month's report. It said that by year's end, Brazil would register the second highest yield of grain in history.

According to the IBGE, rice production in 2009 would rise by 4.2 percent from last year, while soy and corn would see a 5.2 percent and a 14.2 percent drop respectively.

The total cultivated area in Brazil would fall slightly from last year's 47.4 million hectares to 47.2 in 2009. The land for rice and corn production would increase by 2.1 and 1 percent respectively, while soy fields would decrease by 4.6 percent.

Overall, 81.3 percent of Brazil's arable land is used for the production of rice, corn and soy.

The IBGE said all the five grain-growing Brazilian regions would see drops in output from last year. The southern region would have the largest gross output of 53.6 million tonnes, a 12.6 percent drop from 2008. By contrast, the northern region would see the smallest output of 3.7 million tonnes, down 1.8 percent from 2008.