In the first semester Brazil sold 232,000 tons of rice on the foreign market. The volume is 39.1% greater than that sold in the same period in 2005, according to information from the Rio Grandense Institute of Rice (Irga). In the month of July alone, 49,000 tons were exported.
Between January and July, the country earned a total of US$ 32 million with the commodity’s exports. The kinds of rice most sold by Brazil in the international market were parboiled and broken.
Amongst the main importers were Cuba, Senegal and Benin. Up to the end of the year a total of 400,000 tons should be exported, according to forecasts by the institution.
Brazilian imports also increased between January and July, but in a smaller proportion: 5%. They reached, however, 421,000 tons. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay are the countries that supply 98% of the foreign rice that enters Brazil.
Brazil should harvest this year, according to the last study by the National Food Supply Company (Conab), a total of 11.6 million tons of rice. This is a 12.2% reduction over the previous crop, mainly due to a 23.6% reduction in the planted area. The productivity of the crops, however, increased by 14.9%.
The Conab harvest forecast increased in 0.8% in relation to the last study promoted by the company due to greater productivity in the crops in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
This crop, rice will represent 6.3% of the area cultivated with grains in Brazil. This year, the country will have 47.3 million hectares planted. The national production of grains should be of 119.7 million tons.
