BRAZIL’S grain production should reach a record 270.7 million tonnes next year, some 7.8% more than this year, according to an official forecast yesterday by the IBGE statistics institute.

The projection for next year was 19.5 million tonnes higher than this year’s harvest, which was slightly down from last year’s levels.

The projected rise was mainly due to better expectations for the maize harvest, recovering after being hard hit by drought.

The IBGE forecasted growth of 11.1% in maize production for the first harvest of 2022 to 2.8 million tonnes, and of 26.8% for the second harvest of some 16.3 million tonnes.

Brazil is the world’s number three maize producer, and number one for soybeans.

The IBGE forecast an increase of 0.8% or 11 million tonnes for soybean production in 2022. Projections for wheat and rice are down.

An earlier forecast by the government’s agricultural supply agency Conab had put the 2022 grain production figure even higher, at 288.61 million tonnes. – AFP, November 12, 2021.