Curitiba – The state of Paraná should harvest 14.67 million tonnes of soy, a record-high crop. The total represents an increase 730,000 tonnes compared with the volume forecasted last month, when a crop of 13.94 million tonnes was projected.
According to a survey of the Rural Economy Department (Deral) of the Secretariat for Agriculture, the productivity has also exceeded previous crops: the average went from 3,190 kilograms per hectare last year to 3,260 kilograms per hectare this year. Compared with the previous crop (2009/2010), production grew by 5%. Last year, 13.92 million tonnes of the grain were harvested.
According to the director of the Deral, Otmar Hubner, when the crop started being harvested, in January and February, there was a concern due to too much rain, but the conditions improved during the last few days of the period. Agronomist Margorete Demarchi stated that in the last three years, Paraná has maintained roughly the same average in terms of the grain’s export volume, at around 45% of the state’s production.
At the Port of Paranaguá, through which the soy is exported, the issuing of permits for loaded trucks, which was suspended during the days of rain, is now back to normal. With good weather, the port’s export route operates at full capacity and ships out up to 100,000 tonnes per day. Of all the grain that reaches Paranaguá, 70% are shipped by truck and 27% by train. Aside from that, 3% of liquid bulk cargo is transported via oil pipeline.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
