Brasília – Brazil’s 2018/2019 grain crop should see the second biggest maize harvest on record at 95 million tons. Maize is expected to drive grain output to 236.7 million tons, 900,000 less than the all-time high from 2016/2017.
The estimates were made public this Thursday (9) by the National Supply Company (Conab) in its 8th 2018/2019 Grain Crop Survey. Soy remains the most favored product by growers, at an expected 114.3 million tons. Cotton output could reach 2.7 million tons of lint.
Winter crop planting is expected to pick up as of this month. Conab expects wheat – the leading grain product in the country – to span roughly 2 million hectares, down 68,000 hectares from the last crop.
“This reduction stems from producers’ misgivings considering the yield issues seen last crop,” the survey reads.
In Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) released estimates for cereals, legumes and oilseeds, which are expected to come out to a combined 231.5 million in 2019, which would be up 2.2% over 2018. IBGE works with regular years, while Conab issues data concerning crop-years.
The forecast in the April edition of the IBGE’s Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production is up 0.6% from the last forecast, which had been released in March.
Out of the three main grain crops, only maize should be up from 2018 – by 12.6%. Output should be down 4.4% for soy and 10.6% for rice.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
