Brazil's 2004/05 grains crop forecast could be lowered further due to drought in southern states, Brazil's Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues said on Monday. The ministry's crop supply department Conab lowered Brazil's overall grains crop forecast to 119.49 million tonnes last week, compared with 123.4 million tonnes seen only a few weeks earlier and 119.1 million tonnes harvested in 2003/04.
Initially the government had forecast a record grains crop of around 132 million tonnes.
But Rodrigues added that soy crop losses, which have been pronounced in the south, were already factored into recent estimates and would not likely fall significantly in the future.
"It (grain crop) could be smaller still because the drought is not yet over and because the winter corn crop (planting) is very late and will be much smaller than expected," Rodrigues told reporters at an international coffee conference.
He said the ministry was seeking an extra 300 million reais to aid co-operatives in purchases of fertiliser, agrochemicals and seeds to supply farmers.
The ministry is also seeking 1 billion reais in marketing aid for producers, especially in Rio Grande do Sul where an estimated 70 percent of the soy crop and a large part of the corn crop was destroyed by drought.
Rodrigues said the aid would help reduce distressed sales by drought-hit producers.
Rodrigues added that despite the drought, he expected the value of Brazil's food exports in 2005 to be similar to last year, or about $37-$38 billion, due to higher coffee, sugar and orange juice prices.
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