Brazil’s 2012/2013 crop should put the country in the lead in production and export of soy, after a 20 per cent increase in production of the crop, reports the Brazil-Arab News Agency.

The forecast is by Expedição Safra, a technical study promoted as an initiative of paper Gazeta do Povo, from Curitiba.

According to the study, still in progress, domestic production of the grain should exceed 180 million tonnes, boosted by soy and maize, as against 170 million tonnes last year.

Production should reach 80 million tonnes of soy, 20 per cent more than the previous season’s 66 million.

Expedição Safra monitors the crop in the United States. It covers the Grain Belt, evaluating the American crop, which is 70 per cent complete.

In the United States there has been a 13 per cent reduction in maize production as against the previous cycle, and 8 per cent in soy.

"The country suffered a reduction due to climate factors and this has favoured Brazil. But there are factors, like growth in international demand, which have caused Brazil to consolidate itself in grain production, no matter the recovery in the US in coming years,” said the Expedição Safra coordinator, Giovani Ferreira.