August 23, 2007

US 2007/08 soy output seen steady output amid Brazil's soy production hike

Despite the US Agriculture Department's forecast that US will increase its soy production, its new monitoring report, released in August did not bring news in relation to July.

The USDA estimates 2007/08 cycle production in the US will remain at 71.45 million tonnes, with a decline of 17.66 percent in relation to the 2006/07 harvest. The reduction due to expanded acreage of corn for ethanol, opens up room for Brazil to gain more participation in the foreign market.

This movement, which motivates an increase of production, should be a tendency in the next few harvests. The USDA forecast for the 2007/08 cycle in Brazil is of 61 million tonnes, with a growth of 3.39 percent over the result of the harvest of 2006/07.

This first official survey of the 2007/08 cycle of Brazilian soybean will be released by Brazil's statistics group Conab only in October. The expectation is that it will also indicate a growth in production, although the forecast of the Brazilian agency differs significantly from that of the US.