The 11th Survey of the Grain Harvest 2017/2018, released on Thursday (09), by the National Supply Company (Conab), confirms that, with the harvest of the second advanced crop and the third crop beginning, in addition to the final of winter crops, the production estimate is 228.6 million tons. This represents 50,700 t more than in the last survey, released in July, and maintains this harvest as the second largest in the historical series.
Soybeans and corn, which have the highest production volumes in the country, are expected to have production of 119 and 82.2 million tons, respectively. Of the total corn production, 26.8 million tons are expected to be harvested in the first harvest and 55.4 million tons in the second harvest. Also noteworthy for the current harvest is the estimated increase in cotton production in feathers, estimated at 1.98 million tons, which represents an increase of 29.4% in relation to the last harvest and the second bean harvest, estimated at 1.27 million tons, an increase of 5.6%.
Area
The area sown is estimated at 61.7 million hectares and confirms once again the largest area sown in the country. The estimated increase is 1.3% or 819.7 thousand hectares in relation to the previous harvest. The increase was not only greater due to the reduction in the area of first and second crop harvests. In relation to the previous harvest, the area of the first maize crop reduced from 5.5 to 5.1 million hectares and the area of the second harvest reduced from 12.1 to 11.6 million hectares, mainly due to the future expectation of the market.
On the other hand, soybeans had a significant increase in the area sown, from 33.9 to 35.2 million hectares in the current crop, an absolute gain of 1.24 million hectares, the highest among all evaluated crops.
Other crops also had an absolute gain of area in this harvest, such as cotton, which reached 1.18 million hectares (gain of 237 thousand hectares) and the second harvest beans, which reached 1.53 million hectares (increase of 106, 2 thousand hectares), driven by cowpea beans, which should have 160.8 thousand more hectares in the current harvest, reaching 1 million hectares.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.