Brazil’s booming agribusiness: Santa Catarina state reaches highest value of farming production in history

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Last year, the indicator totaled R$40.9 (US$8.4) billion, a figure 21.1% higher than in 2019, when it stood at R$33.8 billion. Between 2018 and the following year, the index had already registered a positive variation of 8.7%.

The increase in prices received by producers was the main reason for the growth of the state VPA in both periods, with highlights for pigs, cattle, milk and grains.

“Agribusiness is one of the most important engines of our economy. The numbers reflect this greatness and show that the sector remains strong and active, in the domestic market and also internationally, thanks to the entrepreneurship, the strength of the workers in the field, and the quality of our products,” says the acting governor of Santa Catarina Daniela Reinehr, who participated in the virtual event.

The president of Epagri, Edilene Steinwandter, responsible for the publication of the data, recalls that the positive performances occurred despite the adversities that Santa Catarina’s farming faced in the 2019/20 harvest.

The weather did not help, and drought, hail and even tornadoes affected crops throughout the state. The pandemic was another obstacle that farmers had to overcome to continue ensuring food security for the Brazilian population.

Pork

Following the national scenario, Santa Catarina’s pork exports also showed significant growth in 2020.

A total of 523.39 thousand tons were shipped, an increase of 25.63% in relation to the previous year, which keeps Santa Catarina at the top of the ranking of the largest exporters of this protein in Brazil.

Revenues registered an even more expressive increase: US$1.17 billion, a high of 35.30%.

The factor that most significantly affected global swine production in 2020 was the African Swine Fever (ASF), a disease that reached Asia in mid-2018 and, since then, has drastically affected the activity in the main producing and consuming region of the protein.

For 2021, the initial projections of the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) point to a 4.4% growth in world production, driven by the gradual recovery of the economy after the most critical phases of the Covid-19 pandemic, and by considerable increases in Chinese (9.2%), Brazilian (3.6%), Russian (5.9%), and Vietnamese (4.9%) production, among other countries.

Source: Moneytimes