Market News & Headlines >> Brazil Slashes Corn Crop Again

Brazil’s agriculture ministry on Tuesday slashed its estimates of that country’s corn production and exports further, after the country’s second-crop corn production was cut sharply by a severe drought and by early frosts in southern Brazil.

CONAB, the agriculture ministry’s supply department pegged Brazil’s total 2020-21 production at 86.65 million metric tons, down 7.2% from a July estimate of 93.39 million tons and down 15.5% from the previous year’s crop of 102.59 million tons. Second-crop corn production was estimated at 60.32 million metric tons, down from a July forecast of 66.97 million and last year’s 75.05 million.

As a result of the lower production expectations, CONAB lowered its forecast for Brazil’s 2020/21 corn exports by another six million tons to 23.5 million. USDA will likely lower its estimates of Brazilian production and exports in Thursday’s monthly Supply/Demand report. In July, USDA forecast Brazil’s 2020/21 corn production at 93.0 million tons and its exports at 29.5 million tons.