'Remarkable' Soybean Growing Season in Brazil

May 15, 2002

USDA reports a "remarkable" soybean growing season has been completed in Brazil. Market observers "are used to stories of record crops in the vast farming belt of central and southern Brazil, but this year proved unique in the degree to which soybean acreage expanded," the report says.

Farmers heeded strong market signals favoring export-oriented soybeans and planted record crop acreage, reallocating land resources away from competing summer corn and cotton production. Total national soybean area is estimated to have increased by an unprecedented 2 million hectares, 14% more that the previous year's record level.

USDA now expects 2001-02 soybean area at a record 15.9 million hectares, while soybean production is estimated at a record 43.5 million tons. National crop yield, however, is forecast slightly down from last year, owing to the effects of drought in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. The incentive to plant additional soybeans "proved irresistible across the growing region, with significant growth occurring in both major and minor producing areas," USDA reports. Based on preliminary data, the greatest increase appears to have been focused in the states of Mato Grosso, Goias, Parana, and Rio Grande do Sul, where either ample land was available or where corn production was being curtailed. The Center-West region in particular saw its share of national soybean area rise to 50 percent this year, continuing a decades-old trend of expansion.

Brazil's soybean region recorded substantial rainfall throughout the entire growing season. Total accumulations were more substantial than last year, though drought did creep into the picture in the far southern states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina during the first half of the season.

The overall weather pattern was nearly ideal, supporting rapid early growth and development of the crop and near-record yields. Total rainfall for the October-December period was below normal in a few key producing areas, but moisture accumulation mostly kept pace with or exceeded crop requirements.