The first meeting of 2023 of the São Paulo Wheat Sector Chamber, held in Paranapanema (SP) on March 01st, highlighted the initial projections for maintaining harvest volume for São Paulo wheat, the opportunities and challenges that will be encountered throughout of the year in the cereal scenario at national and global level, in addition to addressing the issue of genetic improvement of the grain as a strategy for producers in the state to achieve better productivity and quality results.
“This first meeting of the São Paulo wheat production chain was very important, as we were able to include several topics of interest to the sector, such as, for example, measuring the harvest for more accurate numbers with the National Supply Company (Conab) and the Institute of Agricultural Economics (IEA)”, points out the President of the Sector Chamber, Ruy Zanardi.
Outlining an overview of the current context of wheat in Brazil and the world, the Head of wheat at the company Sodrugestvo, Douglas Araújo, states that the global demand for food is growing, which is putting pressure on wheat production. “Our focus today is to meet this need for food faced by the world, and Brazil plays a fundamental role in this process. In wheat, we have all the potential to advance in this market, considering that we are already increasing exports of this commodity”.
Record harvest volumes recorded in Brazil and Russia, in addition to the harvest in Australia, which exceeded the country's expectations, allowed the global production of 784 million tons of wheat in 2022/23, according to the USDA.
Araújo explains some factors that will influence wheat worldwide in 2023. “In Ukraine, approximately one third of the entire cereal production area is occupied by Russia. In this sense, productivity and harvest volume are assumed to be affected due to this scenario, raising a question mark for this important wheat exporter”.
“Russia had an excellent year for its crops in general. However, wheat exports started more timidly, with numbers lower than in 2021/22. The country needs to accelerate its foreign sales to reach the expected result of 43 million tons in 2023. Due to this delay, prices, especially of Russian wheat, are falling”, details Douglas Araújo.
Argentina, which had an intense crop failure in 2022, expects a return to normality with regard to cultivation in 2023, according to Araújo. “However, the market for Argentine wheat changed due to this reduction, becoming more restricted to Brazil, Chile and Indonesia.”
The estimate offered by StoneX indicates that 11 million tons of wheat were produced in Brazil in 2022. “In São Paulo, the cultivated cereal stood out for use in the milling industry, which processes it to produce flour for the different purposes of day to day”, explains the Sodrugestvo professional.
In general, the national volume grew with good quality, which allowed the arrival of this commodity to new markets, indicates Araújo. “However, the demand for imports did not cease in the country. In fact, for the first time in the history of Brazilian imports, Russian wheat surpassed cereals from the United States, due to the low prices of grain produced in Russia”.
After the presentation of reports from cooperatives and cereal producers in São Paulo, a tradition at meetings of the Wheat Sector Chamber, the initial projection for the São Paulo cereal harvest follows the result obtained in 2022 of 500 thousand tons produced. “The climate issue is still an unknown for our state this year and could cause this number to vary”, warns Ruy Zanardi.
One of the points reinforced during the event was the genetic improvement of wheat seeds over the years for the evolution of quantitative and qualitative results of wheat production in São Paulo. “Issues of stability in adverse weather conditions and health are always on producers’ minds. Varieties that are increasingly resistant, especially to powdery mildew and blast, are attractive to wheat farmers in São Paulo”, reinforces Biotrigo's Commercial Supervisor, Deodato Junior.
OR Genética's Commercial Supervisor, Luan Gustavo, assesses that safety and profitability are two of the pillars for the genetic improvement work on wheat seeds, which bring results from the field to the mill. “The producer always looks for varieties that offer better yields and, consequently, profitability for the crop. Characteristics such as shorter height, strong straw, disease resistance, tolerance to germination on the cob and better industrial quality guide the work to bring increasingly modern and competitive cultivars to São Paulo”.
Rubia Padilha, a Conab professional present at the meeting, reinforced the importance of working together with institutes and producers to more accurately measure the volume of the wheat harvest in São Paulo. “Information and harvest prospects are used to establish agricultural policies, involving the Harvest Plan, credits and insurance, for example. Therefore, the accuracy of this data is fundamental for the sector.”
According to the IEA representative, Danton Camargo, municipal monitoring is also important for surveying the São Paulo harvest. “There are few states in Brazil that have the structure that São Paulo has. It is important to take advantage of all available tools, such as the Sector Chamber, to carry out an increasingly accurate survey of production volume”, he concludes.
Receive the latest agriculture news by email
Receive the latest agriculture news by email
Brazilian olive oils, which are also produced in the south of the country and in mountainous regions of states such as Bahia and Espírito Santo, have gained prominence in the gastronomic market due to their freshness and sensorial attributes.
