Produção agrícola
Estimates for 2019 harvest increase, hit 236 million tonnes
July 11, 2019 09h00 AM | Last Updated: July 11, 2019 11h44 AM
According to the June estimates of the Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production, released today by the IBGE, the national harvest of cereals, legumes and oilseeds should reach 236 million tonnes in 2019. It represents a rise of 4.2% in relation to the harvest last year and a rise of 0.6% compared with May´s forecast.
The rise was leveraged by the estimates in the production of corn, especially the second harvest, which increased 24.7% and hit the record of 69.3 million tonnes. Considering this result, it is expected that 95.3 million tonnes of grains will be produced in 2019, a rise of 17.1% over the last year.
Carlos Antônio Barradas, manager of the survey, explains that the planting window of corn benefited from the anticipation of the harvest of soybeans. "Moreover, it has been raining, the climate is benefiting the second harvest of corn. At planting time, the price was also better than last year, which stimulates the producers and investors in cropping technologies", says the researcher.
On the other hand, soybeans and rice, the other two major grains of the national harvest, reduced their output compared with 2018. A production of 112.5 million tonnes was estimated for soybeans, which represented a drop of 4.5%.
"The lack of rainfall and high temperatures in important states for soybeans, like Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo, jeopardized the harvest. The drop hit 15.8% in Paraná", explains Barradas.
In the case of rice, the drop in the production was caused by the reduction of 9.7% in the planted area and of 10.1% in the area to be harvested. A total of 10.4 million tonnes were estimated for this grain, a retreat of 11.2% over the last year.
Barradas points out the low profitability of rice as the cause of this reduction, which leads the producers to look for alternatives. "Especially in Rio Grande do Sul, many producers are decreasing the planted area of rice. Due to its higher profitability, soybeans cropping has been replacing that of rice, so much that this state has become the second biggest producer of soybeans in Brazil", analyzes the manager of the survey.
Concerning the total area to be harvested, the estimate for 2019 is of 62.8 million hectares, 3% above the 2018 harvest and 0.3% above that of May. This area increased 6.8% and 2.2% for corn and soybeans, respectively, over the last year.
