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Brazilian soybean production estimate revised lower again
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Brazilian soybean production
estimate revised lower again
Reports out of Brazil's agriculture ministry indicate lower estimates on the country's soybean crop with another half million tonnes off previous estimates.
June 10, 2009 By StormX/Top Crop Manager
June 10, 2009
Earlier this week, Brazil’s agriculture ministry announced that the country’s soybean production estimate has been reduced once again. In early May the forecast was reduced to 57.6 million tonnes. The latest estimate cuts another 500,000 tonnes off of the soybean crop bringing the new projection to 57.1 million tonnes. This is nearly five percent less than last year’s 60 million- tonne Brazilian soybean crop and should be close to the actual number as the harvest has just completed.
The culprit behind the decreased production estimate is drought conditions that were present during the bulk of the flowering and filling stages of the soybeans crop.
The report also underscores production shortfalls estimated for the 2009 soybean crop in neighbouring Argentina. Last week, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange reduced its production forecast to 30 million tonnes, down from 32.2 million tonnes predicted during the last week of May. Overall, the Grains Exchange noted a drop in production of more than 31 percent, which would make it the country’s lowest since 2001.
As it is in Brazil, the primary threat to production in Argentina has been the drought conditions that affected the country from the start of 2009 through to the end of April.
