Center-SouthStatescontinuevigorously
engagedingrowingsoybean,buttheupper
portionoftheBrazilianmap, includingthe
Matopibaregion, isfightingforabiggershare
HORIZON
The largest soybean producers, in turn, according to projections released in early
September 2017, continue actively engaged in the production of themost relevant
farmcrop in the Country. For the coming growing season, theMatoGrosso Institute of
Agricultural Economy (Imea) was projecting a 0.22 percent area increase in the largest
soybean-producing State; Deral officials projected a 3 percent step forward in this
item in the State of Paraná, and the same estimateswere issued by the RioGrande do
Sul State Rural Extension and Technical Assistance Company (Emater/Ascar) for the
State. As far as productivity goes, where the three states showed strong evolution in
the past year, with Paraná achieving the highest level, 3.731 kilograms per hectare,
initial perspectives referred to adjustments to the not-so-high historical levels.
I
n16ofthe27BrazilianStatesthemostim-
portantfarmcropispresent.Soybeanwas
born and grew up in the South, made it
vigorously to the Central Region (includ-
ing the Center-West and Southeast) and,
over the past years, the winds of the crop
have been heading towards the North, in-
cluding the Northeast. This region, which
comprises the so-called Matopiba (acronym
made from the initial letters of the states of
Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia), is
home to the biggest growth in area in per-
centage terms, amounting to 9.9 percent in
the 2016/17 growing season. Meanwhile, the
largest soybean-producing states are locat-
ed in the Center-South, starting with Mato
Grosso, in the Center-West, Paraná and Rio
Grande do Sul, in the South, and also Goiás
andMatoGrossodoSul, in the first region.
At an analysis on the past two decades
(from the 1996/97 to the 2015/16 season), a
survey by Embrapa Soybean shows that the
largest producer, Mato Grosso, experienced
the biggest growth in annual production, up-
wards of one million tons a year. Upon as-
sessing the productivity rates, Embrapa re-
searcher Alvadi Balbinot emphasizes the
state’s “consistent stability for the produc-
tion of soybeans, as it has the smallest vari-
ation coefficient”. The states that come in the
sequence occupy the second and third posi-
tion among themain producers in the Coun-
try: Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, with re-
spective increases of 520 thousand tons and
494 thousand tons ayear.
In the past season, not included in this
study, strongly influenced by the climate,
there was big productivity variation in these
states,andthelongestperiodtookplaceinRio
Grande do Sul. In this State, where ricemead-
owlandswereexpanded,andMatoGrossoex-
panded their area by 2%. The State of Paraná,
according toConab sources, reduced the size
of the crop by 3.7%, while the Rural Economy
Department(Deral),adivisionoftheStateSec-
retariat of Agriculture and Supply (Seab), had
anticipated an initial reduction in area, influ-
enced by the prices of corn, but in the end it
North
wind
Biggest expansion inplantedarea in the 2016/17
growing season took place in theNorth-Northeast regions
registeredanarea similar to theprevious year.
Still according to the federal organ, Area sta-
bility or minor reduction took place in Minas
Gerais and Goiás. Productivity, in general,
soaredduetofavorableweatherconditions.
The North and the Northeast experienced
strong recovery in production, this time with
a little help from the climate, but at the same
time they clearly spotted their potential to in-
crease the planted area. In the Matopiba Cer-
rado lands, the northeastern State of Piauí
presented the biggest advance in percent-
age terms in this aspect (22.8%), whilst in the
North the states of Rondônia and Pará expe-
rienced respective increases of 17.2% and
16.6%, and Tocantins, also within the bound-
aries of the Matopiba region, reached a 10.7
percent increase. Bahia, in theNortheast,with
its crop concentrated in the western portion
of the State, is the largest regional producer. If
considered as a region, Matopiba would rank
asthirdbiggestsoybeanproducer.
n
Sílvio Ávila
24
Fonte:
Conab/Setembro 2017
* Regiões: CO (Centro-Oeste), S (Sul), NE (Nordeste),
SE (Sudeste) e N (Norte).
ESTADOS DA SOJA
soybean states
Os maiores produtores do
grão no Brasil
(Resultados da safra 2016/17)
Estados/Região*
Produção
(Mil t)
Mato Grosso (CO)
30.513,5
Paraná (S)
19.586,3
Rio Grande do Sul (S)
18.713,9
Goiás (CO)
10.819,1
Mato Grosso do Sul (CO)
8.575,8
Bahia (NE)
5.123,3
Minas Gerais (SE)
5.067,2
São Paulo (SE)
3.084,3
Tocantins (N)
2.826,4
Maranhão (NE)
2.473,3
Santa Catarina (S)
2.292,6
Piauí (NE)
2.048,1
