Brazil’s 2018 farming reaches record-breaking $83.2 bi

Brazil’s agriculture last year reached new records for a number of key crops, which led production to reach an unprecedented $83.2 billion, up 8.3 percent on the previous year. The information was reported today (Sep 5) by the Brazilian government’s statistics agency IBGE. Altogether, 78.5 million hectares were planted, down 0.6 percent on 2017.

The institute explains that the value is the same as gross production. They take a price free of shipping costs and taxes and multiply it by the amount produced.

An explanation mentioned by IBGE Agricultural Manager Carlos Alfredo included weather conditions—favorable early in the year for some crops.

The manager noted that, looking at grains—the main goods under cereal, legumes, and oleaginous plants—one notices that the 2017 record, when the weather was great for the crops, is still unsurpassed. “Nonetheless, we had a production of 227.5 million tons. It’s a 4.7 percent reduction compared to the year prior, but still a good rate.” In terms of production value, which reached $48.1 billion in this category, a 13.6 percent expansion was reported. “It’s the prices. They increased considerably in 2018.”

The ten main crops—soybeans, sugarcane, corn, coffee, herbaceous cotton, cassava, orange, rice, banana, and tobacco—account for nearly 85.6 percent of all value generated last year. Soybeans headed the list, with 37 percent of the production value, followed by sugarcane (15%), and corn (11%). Soybeans saw $30.9 billion coming in, up 13.6 percent; sugarcane $12.6 billion (-3%); and corn $9.1 billion (14.1%).