October 12, 2015
'Brazil's soy harvest to breach 100-million-tonne level'
Brazil's state crop supply agency Conab Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento expects soybean harvests for 2015-16 to breach for the first time the 100-million-tonne level, higher than the 97 million forecast made by the US Department of Agriculture.
The previous record high soyharvest of Brazil, the world's No. 1 soy exporter, was 96.2 million tonnes, during the last season.
Conab said Friday that based on its first survey of Brazilian grain harvests for 2015-16, which was conducted on September 20-16, soy harvests will reach a record 101.9 million tonnes.
The expected record harvest, it said, was due to the increase in land area planted to soy, which rose by up to 1.5 million hectares to 33.2 million ha, as farmers favored soy over corn when the dollar-denominated soybean prices had a slight edge over corn prices before the start of the Brazilian farming season.
Conab also forecasts that the country's soybean exports would rise to 53 million tonnes in 2015-16 from 50.8 million in 2014-15.