Datagro projects South American soybean harvest at 196,94 million tons

A survey by Datagro Consulting on the 2020/21 soybean harvest in South America, although lower than the previous estimate, projects a record harvest for the region. The area is estimated at 61,69 million hectares, below the 61,95 million hectares in the previous survey, but 2% higher than the 60,33 million hectares in the 2019/20 season, consolidating a new historical record. Taking into account the larger area and general yield still close to normal, South America could present a production of 196,94 million tons, lower than the November projection, 201,29 million tons, but 2% higher than the 192,56 mi t of the revised record for the 2019/20 harvest.

The new survey brought an increase of 4% in the area to be harvested in Brazil, rising from 37,39 million ha to 38,76 million ha, with the potential to harvest 135,68 million tons, an increase of 7% over the 127,15 .XNUMX million tons of the record obtained in the past season.

The planted area in Argentina is estimated at 17,30 million ha, stable compared to the previous harvest. And also depending on the weather in March, with a slightly smaller area to be harvested, going from 17 million hectares to 16,90 million hectares. The harvest is projected at 46,50 million tons, compared to 51 million tons in the initial projection.

In Paraguay, the initial projections for the soybean planted area of ​​3,70 million hectares are expected to be maintained, 3% higher than the 3,60 million hectares last season, with production of 9,5 million tons, adding the summer and winter crops.

In Bolivia, an area estimated at 1,33 million ha, with a production potential of 3,06 million tons, 13% above the previous harvest; in Uruguay, projected area of ​​1 million ha and production of 2,2 million tons.

Soybean harvest advances in Brazil, but remains slow

Until February 19th, according to information reported by Datagro, Brazil harvested 15,1% of the estimated area, compared to 9,1% in the previous week, ending on the 12th. The flow remains well below the 31,4% in 2020 and 28,4% of the average of the last 5 years. “Despite some localized problems and potential losses, harvest conditions are satisfactory in a large part of the producing region and we are certainly heading towards another record harvest in Brazil”, projects Flávio Roberto de França Junior, Grains coordinator at Datagro.