Brazil’s Conab Raises Soybean Output View to 166.32 Mln T

By Ana Mano

SAO PAULO, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Brazilian crop agency Conab on Tuesday raised its forecast for domestic soy production in the 2024/2025 season to 166.32 million metric tons, citing good weather and a minor adjustment in the growth of the oilseed’s planted area.

The new forecast for soy production in Brazil, the world’s biggest producer and exporter, is 12.6% higher than the 2023/24 harvest and a record.

This season, Conab estimates cultivated area of 47.4 million hectare (117.1 million acres), an increase of 2.7% compared to the previous period. In December, Brazil’s soy area growth was pegged at 2.6%.

The agency also said Brazil is poised to export more than 105 million tons of soybeans in the season, a much larger volume than the 98.6 million tons of last year, on ample supplies. Most of Brazil’s exports go to China.

In the new report, Conab also slightly lowered its total corn production forecast in Brazil to 119.55 million metric tons, reflecting in part a reduction of the country’s first-corn area and dryer conditions in the south of the nation, which is already causing yield losses.

Brazil plants three corn crops each year.

(Reporting by Ana Mano; editing by Jason Neely and Louise Heavens)