Brazil soy crop forecast at record 63 million tonnes

Brazil is poised to produce a record 63 million tonnes of soy in 2009-10, the US Agriculture Department (USDA) said in its monthly report, increasing its forecast by 1 million tonnes from October's estimate.

USDA expects higher harvested area in Brazil, the world's second-largest soy supplier after the US.

A larger crop was also forecast for No. 3 supplier Argentina, for which USDA raised its production estimate by 500,000 tonnes to 53 million tonnes.

According to USDA, US is slated to see a record soy harvest this year of 90.34 million tonnes.

Brazilian soy producers had planted almost half their crop as of last week, and conditions were favourable, analysts have said. The harvest of the crop will begin in January.

USDA raised its forecast for soy trade to China, the world's largest importer of soy, to 40.5 million tonnes for 2009-10, up from 39.5 million tonnes last month, down from 682.75 million tonnes in 2008-09, the USDA said.