MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil's 2022/23 harvest is expected to reach 317,5 million tons with a planted area of 78,2 million hectares

Soybeans continue to dominate the national agribusiness, with an estimated harvest of 154.6 million tons. An i0mpressive 23.1% increase compared to the previous season’s production.

Brazil is expected to harvest a record 317.5 million tons of grains in the 2022-23 agriculture cycle, which is 44.9 million tons (16.5%) more than the previous year, according to the 10th Grain Harvest Survey by Conab, the country’s food supply and statistics agency.

The report points out that the planting area shows a growth of 4.9% compared to the 2021/22 cycle, reaching 78.2 million hectares. Productivity has also seen a rise of 11.1%, averaging 4,060 kg per hectare. These figures represent a slight adjustment of 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively, compared to the figures released in June.

Soybeans continue to dominate the national agribusiness, with an estimated harvest of 154.6 million tons. Although this number is 0.8% lower than last month’s projection, it still represents an impressive 23.1% increase compared to the previous season’s production.

Corn production is also expected to achieve a new record, reaching 127.8 million tons across the three harvests expected for the grain, a substantial 12.9% growth from the 2021/22 volume. This projection has been reviewed upward by 1.6%.

More in detail, the first corn crop is estimated to yield 27.4 million tons, while the second crop is projected to reach 98 million tons. The third crop, cultivated in select states, is anticipated to contribute 2.4 million tons to the overall harvest.

Cotton production is forecasted at 3 million tons, reflecting an increase of 30,000 tons compared to the previous projection in June. This represents a remarkable growth of over 450,000 tons from the previous cycle.

The rice harvest, on the other hand, is expected to reach 10 million tons, indicating a decline of 7% compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the estimate for bean production stands at 3.1 million tons, reflecting a growth of 2.5%.

Among the winter crops, wheat leads with an estimated production of 10.4 million tons, marking a 6.7% increase from Conab’s June estimate. However, the final harvest will still be 1.2% lower than the previous year’s output.