April 25, 2003

A ProMED-mail post
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Source: Reuters, via @gWorldwide, 25 Apr 2003[edited]

Higher than expected soybean yields in south Brazil due to favorable weather compensate for losses caused by Asian rust disease in the center-west and northeast, industry sources said on Thursday.

In Parana state, Brazil's [second largest] soybean producer, yields are expected to rise to 3050 kg per hectare, from 2800 kg/ha in 2002, said Vera Zardo, chief agronomist at the Parana State Rural Economy Department (Deral). Parana's soybean output is expected to rise to 10.8 million tonnes, from 9.4 million tonnes in 2001/02, due to a 9 per cent increase in area to 3.56 million hectares, Ocepar said.

In Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's [third largest] soybean producer, the average yield is seen rising to 2460 kg/ha from 1703 kg in 2001/02, according to FecoAgro, the state agricultural cooperative association, and could reach 3000 kg/ha because of favorable weather and use of crop protection agents.

Increased output in Parana and Rio Grande do Sul should compensate for production losses in Mato Grosso and Bahia due to Asian rust fungus and wet weather.

Together with an increase in the soybean area to 3.53 million ha, from 3.29 million, production in Rio Grande do Sul may reach 8.69 million tonnes, up from 5.61 million in 2001/02.

According to Amado de Oliveira, special advisor to the secretary for rural development in Mato Grosso, yield is estimated at 12-12.3 million tonnes, less than expected. In 2001/02, Mato Grosso grew 11.6 million tonnes of soybeans. Olivera said that rust and rains could reduce average yield to 52 (60-kg) bags/ha, from 55 bags forecast initially.

Last week, the government's agricultural research agency Embrapa said that 1.8 million tonnes of soybeans could be lost in Mato Grosso and 415 000 tonnes in Bahia due to Asian rust.

[_Phakopsora pachyrhizi_ [Pr], the fungus that causes Asian soybean rust, has spread to almost all of Brazil's large soybean belt in the last 2 years. There is increased focus on the disease in South America, especially in light of demands by the American Soybean Association that the United States Department of Agriculture ban imports of soybean from Brazil to the USA in order to prevent introduction of Pr into the USA. Brazil is second to the USA in soybean production and exports. The concern to producers in North America is that rust spores will eventually spread to the southern states of the US. Chemical control is an expensive option, and breeding programs for disease resistance to Pr are in progress. - Mod.DH]

[see also:
Soybean rust - Brazil (Mato Grosso & Bahia) 20030415.0917
Soybean rust - Brazil (Sao Paulo State)     20030124.0214]

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