RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With this year’s super crop, revised upwards by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) on Wednesday, Brazil reclaims its position as the largest producer of soybeans in the world, surpassing the United States. American projections show that Brazil will consolidate its position also for the next harvest, reinforcing the good performance of Brazilian farming, even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In total, Brazil is expected to harvest a record 247.4 million tons of grains this year, 2.5 percent up from 2019, according to the IBGE. For the National Supply Company (CONAB), which published updated estimates on Wednesday, total production for the 2019/2020 harvest is expected to reach a record 251.4 million tons. The IBGE expects the largest harvests in history also for coffee and cotton.
Soybean production will be the main driver of this year’s super crop. The IBGE estimates that 119.9 million tons were harvested in the first half of the year, 5.6 percent more than in 2019. According to CONAB’s calculations, 120.88 million tons were harvested, an increase of 5.1 percent compared to the 2018/2019 harvest.
In 2018, Brazil had already beaten the United States as the largest world producer of soy, but by a very small difference. Last year, Brazilian soybean producers faced climate issues and lost out to the Americans – the record in total national production was secured by corn. Now, US soybean production in the 2019/2020 harvest amounted to 96.68 million tons, according to the most recent estimate by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
For the 2020/2021 harvest, Brazil should once again be in the lead, as the United States is expected to produce 112.3 million tons of soy, while Brazilian producers are expected to harvest 131 million tons, renewing their own record, according to the USDA projections, which cover the global market. The initial projections from the IBGE and CONAB for the 2020/2021 harvest are expected to be released later this year.
The June Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production (LSPA) by the IBGE raised the estimate of total soybean harvest in Brazil by 0.5 percent this year. The record soybean production was not higher only because the LSPA has reduced its estimates for the harvest in Rio Grande do Sul in recent months. In June’s estimate, production in Rio Grande do Sul was 11.2 million tons, down 39.3 percent from 2019.
“Brazil was supposed to have reaped a much larger harvest of soybeans. The problem was that Rio Grande do Sul was severely affected by the lack of rainfall between December and May,” said Carlos Antônio Barradas, an agricultural analyst with the IBGE. “If it weren’t for the drought in Rio Grande do Sul, soy production would have exceeded 125 million tons,” said the researcher.
The availability of land and state-of-the-art technology, which provides efficiency in the field, help explain the successive records in agricultural production in recent years, according to Barradas.
Source: R7