The new estimate (8th) of Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento (Conab) for the 2017/2018 grain crop released on Thursday (10) is 232.6 million tons, surpassing the initial forecast of October last year, which was 224.17 to 228.21 million tons. The result should be the second largest in history, which recorded in the previous harvest of 237.7 million tons.
The area estimate is also highlighted, with the entry of numbers of winter and other crops, which could become the largest in the historical series, or 61.5 million hectares. Despite the decrease of 2.1% compared to the previous harvest, the number is higher than the average national production under normal atmospheric conditions. In comparison with the April survey, the estimate shows an increase of 1.3%, or about 3 million tonnes.
The highest volumes are from soybeans, responsible for the good productive performance and whose harvest advance confirms the good productivity, and the total corn. The legume records 117 million and the cereal 89.2 million tons. Second-crop maize accounted for 70% of the crop (62.9 million tonnes), with the first maize crop accounting for 26.3 million tonnes. As a result of increased production, there is cotton in boom, with a volume of 1.9 million tons, something around 27% more than the previous harvest. Second-crop beans also performed well, with a 10.2% increase and harvest of 1.32 million tons.
More income
“We are better than expected, because the first announcement of planting intention was to harvest about 226 million tons,” said the general coordinator of the Secretariat of Agricultural Policy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MPLS), Savio Pereira. Sávio Pereira pointed out that “besides a positive crop, the news about the income to be achieved by the producer is also very good. It is a profitable crop notably in the cases of soybean and cotton. And even for corn. There was an expectation of lower prices, but the behavior of the foreign market also pulled up the price of that product. “
Largest area of history
At the end of planting second crop crops, the estimate of area planted to beans and winter crops indicates area growth, the highest in the historical series, ie 61.5 million hectares, with an increase of 1 ,1%. In the increasing order of absolute gain of planted area, it comes to soybean with 1.2 million hectares, cotton (236.8 thousand ha) and second crop bean (132.6 thousand ha). As a result, total soybean area stood at 35.1 million hectares, followed by second-crop beans (1.6 million ha), and cotton (1.2 million ha).