In 2023, after six uninterrupted years of growth, national agricultural production showed a decline in the generation of production value, in absolute numbers, even with the consolidation of a new record in grain production. The production value of Brazil’s main agricultural crops reached R$814.5 billion, which represents a drop of 2.3%, compared to the previous year. This is what the Municipal Agricultural Production (PAM) 2023 indicates, released this Thursday (12) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
With the oversupply of some of the main commodities agricultural products, such as soybeans and corn, which broke production records in the country, and the cooling of global consumer markets, the prices of the main national agricultural products underwent a strong correction throughout the year, directly impacting the revenue generated. In total, the ten crops with the highest gross production value concentrated 87% of all gross value generated by national agricultural production.
According to the IBGE, among all agricultural crops, soybeans still stand out in terms of value generated. The oilseed also achieved record production and exports in 2023. The total volume produced reached 152.1 million tons, an increase of 25.4% in the year. According to the survey, soybeans once again had the highest production value among the agricultural products surveyed, totaling R$348.7 billion, an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous year.
According to the Secretariat of Foreign Trade, of the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, in 2023, soybeans again led the ranking of value generated by exports among national products.
“In turn, the production value obtained from corn production showed a substantial drop. Influenced mainly by the correction of corn prices, commodity in the global market, after years of rising, and as a reflection of an excellent harvest in terms of volume collected, producers had difficulty even finding storage warehouses to receive the grains that came from the field, since they were also competing with a bumper soybean harvest”, informs IBGE.
According to the institute, the volume of corn produced in the year was almost 132 million tons, an increase of 20.2% compared to 2022. “However, with the fall in prices on international exchanges, the production value followed the opposite direction, with a decline of 26.2%”, highlights the research.
Even with adverse weather conditions that affected productivity in the extreme south of the country, 2023 saw the largest grain harvest recorded in the historical series of the survey. It was possible to observe the expansion of the areas planted with soybeans and corn, the two main national crops, driven by the good results achieved in the last harvests, combined with the prices of the main commoditieswhich remained at high levels in previous years, encouraging producers to invest in these crops.
Both, which together account for almost 90% of the volume of grains produced in the country, taking advantage of the favorable climatic conditions in most of the producing regions, showed an increase in average yield, recovering from the effects of the drought that affected crops in 2022.
In 2023, Brazil, which already held the position of the world’s largest soybean producer, achieved a new record harvest, as a result of the expansion of cultivation areas and better productivity in the field. This result had a direct impact on the increase in the global supply of the oilseed, causing prices for this commodity were pressed downwards. Within this framework, even in a bumper harvest year, there was a 0.4% increase in the value of crop production.
“Regarding products, soybeans stand out. The weight of soybeans in the value of agricultural production in 2023 was 42.8%. Almost half of the weight of the value of national agricultural production comes from soybeans. Soybeans lead the weight in the value of agricultural production in all regions, with the exception of the Southeast,” says IBGE.
“Regarding exports, we had a record increase of 29.4% with almost 102 million tons exported in 2023. Soybeans continue to be the product with the largest share in the country’s export agenda and China continues to be the country’s largest trading partner. Seventy-six percent of the soybeans exported were destined for China”, highlights the national supervisor of PAM, Winicius Wagner.
The planted area, considering all crops raised in PAM 2023, totaled 96.3 million hectares, which represented an increase of almost 5 million hectares. The result is 5.5% higher than that recorded in the previous year, maintaining the growth rate observed over the last few years in the national territory. Among the products that have been gaining more space in the field, soybeans stand out with the addition of another 3.2 million hectares of the cultivated area, followed by second-crop corn, with an increase of 1.2 million hectares.
In 2023, the Central-West was once again the large region with the highest value of agricultural production, totaling R$274.9 billion, a reduction of 9.5% compared to the previous year, with emphasis on the production of soybeans, corn and cotton.
Among the states, Mato Grosso stood out again, generating R$153.5 billion, a decrease of 12.2% in the year, with a greater share of soy, its main agricultural product, even with a 5.9% drop in the value generated by the oilseed.
The municipality of Sorriso, in Mato Grosso, despite the 27.6% decrease, once again generated the highest value of national agricultural production, totaling R$8.3 billion, with soybeans and corn being the highest value crops.
