Brazil's cereal, legumes, oilseed harvest projected to fall 1.5% year-over-year to 157.5 million tonnes in 2012, IBGE says; rice area down 9.6%; corn plantings up 11.3%, soybeans 2.1%

Andrew Rogers

RIO DE JANEIRO , March 8, 2012 (press release) –
The second estimate of the national harvest of cereal, legumes and oilseeds is 157.5 million tonnes, 1.5% lower than the record harvest of 2011 (159.9 million tonnes) and 0.8% lower than that of January 2012 (158.7 million tonnes). The estimate of the area to be harvested is 50.3 million hectares in 2012, 3.4% higher than in 2011. Soybean, corn and rice are the three main crops, accounting for 90.7% of the total production and 83.1% of the area to be harvested. In relation to the previous year, both rice and soybean saw falls of 13.2% and 9.3%, respectively, while corn increased by 12.8%. Concerning the area to be harvested, rice dropped 9.6%, corn rose 11.3% and soybean was up 2.1%. The expected production for the products of the summer harvest (cotton, peanut, rice, beans, castor beans, corn and soybean) is 119.5 million tonnes, 6.6% lower than in 2011 (127.9 million tonnes).

Among the Major Regions, the total volume of production presents the following distribution: Central West, 60.3 million tonnes; South Region, 57.9 million tonnes; Southeast, 18.3 million tonnes; Northeast, 16.7 million tonnes; and North, 4.3 million tonnes. Compared with the past harvest, increases were recorded for the Northeast (13.2%), the Southeast (6.5%) and the Central-West (7.7%); and decreases for the North (0.6%) and the South (14.4%). Mato Grosso leads the national production of grains with a contribution of 22.3%, followed by Paraná, with 19.2%, and Rio Grande do Sul, with 13.4%. These states together account for 54.9% of the national total.

February estimate against the production of 2011

Among the 26 selected products, 7 presented positive changes in the estimate of production in relation to the previous year: herbaceous cotton seed (1.5%), arabica coffee in grain (16.2%), canephora coffee in grain (9.6%), sugarcane (16.7%), beans in grain 2nd harvest (21.4%), 1st harvest of corn in grain (1.6%) and 2nd harvest of corn in grain (30.2%). Nineteen products recorded a negative change: peanut in the shell 1st harvest (9.6%), peanut in the shell 2nd harvest (1.1%), paddy rice (13.2%), oat in grain (9.6%), potato 1st harvest (8.6%), potato 2nd harvest (8.6%), potato 3rd harvest (2.0%), cacao nut (6.2%), onion (3.6%), barley in grain (12.7%), beans in grain 1st harvest (12.2%), beans in grain 3rd harvest (5.7%), orange (0.3%), castor beans (28.6%), cassava (0.1%), soybean in grain (9.3%), sorghum in grain (10.0%), wheat in grain (9.1%) and triticale in grain (2.1%).

Highlights in the estimate of February in relation to January 2012

Paddy Rice - The expected production of 11.7 million tonnes is 2.0% higher than that of the last survey. Rio Grande do Sul, the main producer, with 65.3% of the national production, recorded an increase of 3.5% in the expected production.

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