Ministry already projects agricultural income of US$ 94.1 billion
Valor Econômico - 06/12/2008
The new upgrading adjustment in the official projection for the Brazilian grain production in this 2007/08 harvest and the commodities valorization in international and domestic markets made the Ministry of Agriculture raise up again its estimates of the producers' income from the main 20 harvests this year. According to the calculations of José Garcia Gasques, coordinator of strategic planning of the Ministry, the group's total income should reach the record of R$ 153.408 billion (US$ 94.1 billion), 0.69% more than May's forecast and 14.47% above what was expected for 2008 in December. Compared to last year, it is a 17.9% increase. In the comparison with the highest level in history, 2003's, the high reaches 10.5%. All tendencies indicated by Gasques since the end of 2007 have been reinforced in this last survey. Thus, soybean will strength its leader condition of the Brazilian agriculture, corn will confirm a strong recovery and will resume the second place among the highest income crops, and sugar cane will really return to third place, a constant result in the first half of this decade. The new ministry's projection for soybean's agricultural income is R$ 43.153 billion (US$ 26.5 billion). Corn, on its turn, has its income projected at R$ 25.893 billion (US$ 15.9 billion), 35.6% above last year's results and 23.8% superior to its highest level, also 2003's. Sugar cane is in a different phase, and its prices have retreated more than 30% last year in São Paulo and the trend is reflected in the current income projections. According to the Ministry, the sugar cane harvest will give the country an income of R$ 18.763 billion (US$ 11.5 billion) in 2008, 11% below last year's record. Despite sugar cane, São Paulo continues in the first place of the ranking of the state's agricultural incomes. According to the Ministry's figures, the state income will be R$ 24.559 billion (US$ 15.1 billion), 6.1% more than in 2007. The sugar cane income should retreat 13.4% in the State this year, to R$ 10.049 billion (US$ 6.2 billion), but the fall is compensated mainly by the projected increases of orange, corn, soybean, and coffee.