MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian soy crop estimate suffers small cut but corn is booming

“The climate has improved over the last few weeks in practically all regions, preventing further losses to the crop,” Safras said

Brazilian agribusiness consultancy Safras & Mercado announced a small cut in its projection for the country’s 2018/2019 soybean crop in a statement on Friday, as weather stopped worsening in key growing regions. Safras cut its projection to 115.402 million tons from a 115.718 million-toe forecast in January, as the effects of a drought that has stressed fields subsided.

“The climate has improved over the last few weeks in practically all regions, preventing further losses to the crop,” Safras said. “Our survey of fields showed us that only minor adjustments had to be made.”

Last month, poor weather led Safras to slash its forecast for Brazil’s output this season by 5%, from the 122.223 million tons it had estimated in November.

In a separate statement, Safras also revised its projection for Brazil’s center-south corn production, to 93.305 million tons from the 93.366 million tons forecast in January. The new estimate represents a 16.5% increase from output in the previous cycle, when it was corn, rather than soy, that suffered from the effects of a drought in top Brazilian growing states.

Brazilian center-south farmers will produce an estimated 62.8 million tons of so-called second corn this cycle, a 29% increase from the previous year, according to Safras.

The second-corn crop, which is planted after soybeans are harvested, will benefit from a projected 6.9% increase in planted area and an expected rise in yields. “Second corn estimates are expected to offset losses in the first corn cycle,” Safras said.