Brazil Repeats Record Performance in Soy Production

Brazil's favorable weather and the priority ascribed by farmers to planting soybean in the areas most adequate to cultivation led the Brazilian production to reach a new record high in 2007. Soy production reached 58,038 million tons in 2007, a result 10.6% greater than recorded in the previous year.

In this specific case, the expansion took place as a consequence of increased productivity, as harvested area saw a reduction of 6.5% from 2006 to 2007.

The country's leading soy producer state, Mato Grosso (Midwest) answered to 26.3% of the national total, with a production of 15.2 million tons  -  which was still 2% lower than that of 2006.

The second leading producer state, according to data supplied by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Paraná (South) answered to 20.5% of the total crop, or 11.8 million tons; next comes Rio Grande do Sul (South) with a crop of 9.9 million tons and growth of 31.3% over 2006.

The figures also show that the five leading soy producer municipalities in 2007 were all within the state of Mato Grosso: Sorriso (2.9% share of national production); Sapezal (1.7%); Nova Mutum (1.7%); Campo Novo de Parecis (1.5%); and Diamantino (1.4%).

The figures were culled from the 2007 Municipal Agricultural Survey  -  Grain, Leguminous and Oleaginous Plants, disclosed today (17) by the IBGE.