Brazil’s estimated 2019 gross farming production $151.8 bi

Brazil’s predicted gross farming production (VBP in the original acronym)—as predicted by the country’s Ministry of Agriculture—stands at $151.8 billion this year. The amount is said to be the second highest for the sector in 30 years, preceded only by 2017’s $153 billion.

The government’s optimism is based on the performance of cotton (real increase at 16.6 percent of the VBP), peanut (14.3%), banana (20.5%), doré potato (117.8%), beans (64.9%), cocoa (1.9%), orange (8.1%), castor beans (34.9%), corn (22.9%), tomatoes (19.6%), and wheat (8.2%).

Chief among items in livestock are chicken (13.4%), pork (9.3%), and beef (1.3%).

Not all sectors showed a good performance. Rice, coffee, sugar cane, manioc, soybeans, and grapes, which account for 58 percent of the country’s output, had lower rates than they did last year.

“These trends are likely to continue on to the end of this year, as the this year’s harvest is virtually over,” reported José Garcia Gasques, coordinator-general for Policy Assessment and Information with the Agricultural Policy Secretariat, of the Ministry of Agriculture.