September 4, 2012

Brazil's poultry production is seen dropping by 4% this year after growing by 4.5% in 2011.

"Overall meat production has been hindered by a drop in the global corn and soy meal supply", the National Commodities Corporation (Conab) said in a report published Friday (Aug 31). Brazil is one of the world's biggest meat producers and consumers.

In the case of pork, after a 5% rise in production in 2011, this year should see a 5% drop, especially due to growing animal feed costs.

Furthermore, Brazil's grain crop has been strongly affected by a severe drought. Between October 2011 and April 2012, 69% of the north eastern bean crop was lost and the region's overall output fell to 295,000 tonnes from 961,000 tonnes a year ago.

In the case of corn, the Northeast has lost 30% (two million tonnes) of its crop.

Meanwhile, the rice crop in the South (the region's main crop) has fallen by 14.7% in the 2011-12 crop (the Centre-South accounts for 90% of Brazil's rice output).

In the 2010-11 crop, Brazil produced 13.6 million tonnes of rice, of which 11.3 million tonnes came from the Centre-South. This year the region's output has fallen to 9.8 million tonnes.