Mercosur to increase rice area and production for 2024/25

(By Cleiton Evandro, AgroDados/Planeta Arroz) The first estimates for the 2024/25 harvest in the four rice-producing countries in Mercosur, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, indicate that the bloc should increase the planted area by 5% (107.95 thousand hectares) and the cereal production by 1.034 million tons (7.2%). The figures are projected by AgroDados Inteligência em Mercados de Arroz based on factors such as the expectation of favorable weather for the crop, dams and reservoirs at full capacity and the prices practiced in Mercosur in 2023 and 2024. In Brazil, the largest producer, consumer and importer in the bloc, an increase of 3.4% (or 55 thousand hectares) of the area is expected, almost all of it concentrated in Rio Grande do Sul. Brazilian production is expected to grow 5.4%, to 11.17 million tons, husk basis, around 600 thousand tons. Since it exported little, the country should start the year with larger stocks, which, together with the increase in production, ...