São Paulo – Brazil should harvest 154.2 million tonnes of grain in the 2010/2011 crop, according to figures disclosed on Thursday (10) by the National Food Supply Company (Conab). If the forecast is confirmed, there should be a new production record, with growth of 3.4% or five million tonnes over the previous crop.
The reason for the forecasted growth is expansion of cotton, bean, soy and rice crops, as well as the climate that favoured some cultures. In area, the greatest growth was in cotton, with 56% expansion, which should take production to 1.9 million tonnes of lint. In the previous crop, the total had reached 1.2 million tonnes.
The bean area should grow 7.7%, to 3.9 million hectares and production of 3.7 million tonnes. The soy area rose 2.4%, reaching 24 million hectares, whereas production should grow 2.3% to 70.3 million tonnes. In rice, the increase in area was 3.7% and in maize the volume harvested should drop.
*Translated by Mark Ament
