Economy

Brazil’s harvest expected to exceed 318 mi tons this year

Production could be 20.9% higher than last year

Vitor Abdala

Published on 10/10/2023 - 12:10

Rio de Janeiro

Colheita de soja, agricultura — © CNA/Wenderson Araujo/Trilux

Cereal, legume, and oilseed production in Brazil is expected to close out the year at 318.1 million tons. The forecast can be found in a survey by statistics bureau IBGE, released Tuesday (Oct. 10).

According to the estimates, production should be 20.9 percent higher than last year—or 54.9 million tons more. The forecast from September is 1.5 percent higher (4.8 million tons more) than the one made in August.

This year, a 26.5 percent growth is expected for soybeans, 12.3 percent for seed cotton, 43.3 percent for sorghum, 19.6 percent for corn, and 4.8 percent for wheat. Among the main crops, only paddy rice is expected to end the year on the wane (-5.1%).

The area to be harvested this year should total 77.8 million hectares, up 6.3 percent from 2022 (a variation of 4.6 million hectares) and 0.4 percent from the August estimate (339 thousand hectares more).

“The main variable influencing this year’s harvest is the increase in productivity. We had good weather conditions in the main producing regions. We had some problems in Rio Grande do Sul. The state faced a lack of rain, which affected the main crops, like soybeans and corn. Even so, production was higher than last year,” said IBGE researcher Carlos Alfredo Guedes.

Other crops

In addition to cereals, legumes, and oilseeds, the IBGE also surveys other crops vital to the economy. Sugar cane (11.9%), arabica coffee (14.6%), manioc (2.6%), potatoes (1.4%), grapes (11.8%), and tomatoes (1.6%) are expected to rise compared to 2022.