From the Newsroom*
São Paulo – Brazilian grain production should reach 119.7 million tonnes in the 2005/06 crop, which should represent an increase of 5.1% when compared to the previous crop, which was 113.9 million tonnes. The figures are part of the 9th harvest study disclosed on Thursday (09) by the National Food Supply Company (Conab).
According to the organization, the productivity, mainly of rice, cotton and maize crops, is the main factor for growth. The result of production also represents growth of 0.2% when compared to the July study, which forecasted a crop of 119.4 million tonnes.
Up to July, crop in Brazil had already totalled 53.4 million tonnes of soy, 666,900 tonnes of cotton lint and 11.5 million tonnes of rice. According to the study, regarding the cropland, there was a 3.7% reduction, going from 49.1million hectares in the last harvest to 47.3 million hectares in this crop. The main crops contributing to this reduction were cotton, rice, soy and wheat.
The areas in which maize and beans are grown presented growth. The first maize harvest presented growth of 6.4% and the second, 3.9%. In the first harvest of beans, the growth was 6.3% and, in the second, 9.7%.
According to the organization, the expansion of the area in which beans are grown was fuelled by the good prices paid to producers and, in the case of beans, to the space left open due to the reduction of soy crops.
Production in the first maize harvest was 31.7 million tonnes, representing an increase of 16% when compared to the previous crop, which was 27.3 million tonnes. The second crop, in turn, presented growth of 26.7%, rising from 7.7 million tonnes to 9.8 million tonnes. The beans crop presented growth of 403,100 tonnes, or 13.2%.
In the case of soy, production grew from 51.5 million tonnes to 53.4 million tonnes, an increase of 3.8%. Regarding cotton lint there was a 20.8% reduction, going from 1.3 million tonnes to 1.03 million tonnes. The Conab study was executed in 450 cities in all regions of Brazil.
*Translated by Mark Ament
