Brazil's 2017-18 second-corn crop output is expected to fall by 12 percent this season, consultancy Agroconsult said on Thursday, citing a poor climate and a small reduction of planted area. Brazil's second-corn crop will fall to 60.2 million tonnes this season compared with 63 million in a forecast released in March, Agroconsult estimated.
The estimate may be revised lower if drought conditions persist in key states including Parana, Mato Grosso do Sul, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Goias, where in some parts it failed to rain for 20 days in April, Agroconsult said. Second corn, planted after soybeans are harvested, has been sowed over an estimated area of 11.9 million hectares this year, down 1 percent from last season, it said.
Mato Grosso, Brazil's largest corn producer, is expected to produce a total of 26.9 million tonnes of corn this year, including first and second corn, a 9 percent drop. "While the climate has been benign in the mid-north of Mato Grosso, in the southeast the weather has been erratic," Agroconsult noted.
Next week, the consultancy and its partners will kick off the new edition of a crop tour through Brazil's most prominent corn states. The expedition, which will go through four states, will collect samples in about 1,500 producing areas.