News

CONAB raises Brazil corn crop estimate again

Brazil’s equivalent of the USDA sees that nation’s already record large corn crop getting bigger.

CONAB now sees the combined corn crop at 127.767 million tons, 1.6% above the June guess and 12.9% more than 2022 due to higher planted area and better growing weather than last season.

That includes a second crop of 98.043 million tons, which is currently being harvested. First crop production was 27.35 million tons, an increase of 9.3% on the year, while the third crop is projected at 2.374 million tons, which would be 7.3% larger than last year.

Brazil’s already a big U.S. competitor on the corn export market, likely taking over the top slot this marketing year due to a big price advantage.

However, that price advantage and the lower return on investment could discourage another increase in planted area next year and there are logistics issues in storing and shipping a record corn crop after a record soybean crop.

That soybean harvest has recently wrapped up on a widespread basis, with CONAB estimating the crop at 154.566 million tons, slightly lower than a month ago but up 23.1% from a year ago.

CONAB’s next round of production projections for Brazil is out August 10^th.