Brasília – The Gross Production Value (GPV) of the 20 major crops in Brazil should be 211.24 billion reals (US$ 106.8 billion) in 2012. The calculations were made by the Strategic Management Advisory of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, and the result, announced this Tuesday (15th), is based on figures for the month of April.
The estimate is more than 10 billion reals lower than the forecast made last month, which was 218.63 billion reals (US$ ). It is also lower than last year’s figure of 216.26 billion reals (US$ 109.4 billion). In addition to a drought in the South of Brazil having caused serious consequences, the prices of certain products dropped, interfering with the GPV.
According to the ministry, the GPV was down 20.3% in the South. This will be the first year ever in which production value in the Midwest will exceed that of the South ever since records started being kept, in 1997.
The products whose GPVs saw the sharpest declines were potato (-40.5%), tobacco (-52.2%), onion (-9.3%), cocoa (-10.9%), orange (-14.3%), soy (-12.9%) and tomato (-4.7%). These declines, according to the ministry, were mostly due to lower prices during the period surveyed. Products whose gross values increased the most were cotton (30.4%), sugarcane (9.5%), beans (4%) and maize (16.4%).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
