By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s cereal, leguminous and oleaginous crops are expected to decline in 2018 but next year’s harvest is expected to be the second largest in the historical series started in 1975, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
“The second estimate for the national grain crop in 2019 showed an increase of 1.7% over the production of 2018. In absolute figures, production is expected to reach 231.1 million tons,” read the IBGE report released on Monday.
According to the entity the record harvest continues to be of 2017, which registered at total of 240.6 million tons.
The IBGE report states that the decrease of production in 2018 is expected to be driven mainly by corn (-17.8 percent), rice (-5.6 percent), beans (-9.8 percent) and sorghum (-5.4 percent),” said the IBGE report.
The estimate of the total area to be harvested in 2018 also fell to 60.9 million hectares, a decrease of 0.5 percent compared to 2017.
“By 2019, a larger planting window for corn is expected, since, in most of these states, rains have already arrived, which has allowed for early planting. For cotton, favorable product prices should encourage investment in crops and increase in planted area,” according to the IBGE manager of the research, Carlos Antônio Barradas.
Brazil’s largest crop, sugarcane, is expected to close the year of 2018 at 675 million tons, down by 1.8 percent.