IBGE confirms record harvest in 2015

The Brazilian harvest of cereals, legumes and oilseeds is expected to reach 209.5 million of tons in 2015, surpassing in almost 15 million of tons or 7.7% the 2014 harvest. This is the latest estimate for 2015 released today (Jan. 12) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

The institute's monthly estimates for crop take into consideration the production of areas planted to upland cotton, peanuts, rice, beans, castor beans, corn, soybeans, oats, rye, barley, sunflower, sorghum, wheat and triticale. Together, the three main products of this group (rice, corn and soybeans) account for 93.1% of the forecast production and for 86.3% of the area to be harvested. In 2015, the harvested area is estimated at 57.7 million hectares, up 1.8% compared with 2014 (56.7 million hectares).

Compared with 2014, soybean acreage rose 6.1% and corn 0.8%, and rice acreage declined 8.4%. In the production, rice increased 1.1%, soybeans 11.9%, and corn 7.3%.

The Central west region was the one that had the highest production of cereals, legumes and oilseeds, with 89.9 million of tons, followed by the South (76 million), Southeast (19.3 million), Northeast (16.6 million ), and North (7.7 million).

Based on this survey, for 2016 the IBGE estimates a production of 210.7 million of tons of cereals, legumes, and oilseeds, surpassing 0.5% the 2015 figures.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta