A staple food on the table of many Brazilians, manioc is the raw material for the flour that integrates several dishes, such as sago and angu, for example. However, your good offer may be suffering some casualties during 2020.
Find out how low productivity can limit cassava supply in 2020. Happy reading!
Expectations for the cassava market in 2020
The second half of 2019 was marked by a period of drought, which made it difficult to plant cassava root in some regions of the Center-South, thus projecting a below-average productivity for the current year.
However, expectations that were already low, gained even more complicated panoramas by the pandemic of the new coronavirus. With the advance of the virus, the harvest of cassava root suffered some restrictions.
In an article published by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), the beginning of the second quarter of 2020 was awaited by rural producers, as the beginning of April is marked by an intensification of the cassava root harvest.
Despite the positive prognosis after starting the year with a drop in productivity, the harvest requires an intense workforce, which was hampered due to social isolation measures, imposed to try to reduce the contagion of the coronavirus.
The cassava harvest was hampered by the isolation measures
With few workers dedicating themselves to the harvest, its rhythm was impacted, causing the market to react negatively, mainly due to the low interest of the industry in totality.
Also according to the article, with the sales of products derived from cassava root, some milling units reduced their work shifts or suspended activities to avoid further losses.
Thus, the cassava market scenario for 2020 remains one of low productivity, with a decreasing profit margin on the part of the producer, losing space for the production of grains and live cattle.
See this article: Wild and table manioc: understand their differences.
Main cassava-derived products that will be affected
Due to drought problems and the reduction of work in the harvest by the Covid-19 pandemic, some products derived from cassava root may feel the effects of low production.
The reduction in production generated a low supply of cassava derivatives
Among them, manioc flour and starch stand out. For the first, low productivity affects one of the most consumed foods in Brazil and which could benefit from its low market prices.
As for cassava starch, present in products such as starch, the expectation is that with the low harvest during the pandemic, the starch factories will have an increase in their stock of up to 40%, registering a drop of almost 30% in prices practiced in the market.
First projections for the cassava market in 2021
The agricultural producer can prepare for a long period of time feeling the negative impacts of the pandemic. Projections for early 2021 show a sharp drop in cassava planting.
Some producers, even, have already chosen not to risk another period of losses and can go back on lease contracts. The moment calls for extreme caution and a good analysis of the opportunities for a recovery, albeit timid.
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