From the Newsroom*
São Paulo – Brazil should double foreign sales of maize in this crop to eight million tonnes. In the previous crop, exports totalled four million tonnes. This information was supplied by the general coordinator of Grain and Annual Cultures at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Sílvio Farnese.
According to Farnese, the increase in the United States production of ethanol, which is made from maize, is one of the reasons for greater sales. "There has been an increase in the price of maize due to greater demand for maize in the US, which may grant Brazil a greater market share," he said.
A study by the National Food Supply Company (Conab) revealed that the area on which maize is cultivated is 13.4 million hectares, which corresponds to the production of 48.8 million tonnes, 14.7% greater than the previous harvest. According to Farnese the expansion in the cultivated area may be credited to the price of the product. Climate conditions, in turn, contributed to the growth of production.
*Translated by Mark Ament
