Rio, May 27, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - The 2004 agricultural harvest should attain 120.9 million tons, 2.2!% less than last year's crop, which amounted to 123.6 tons. April's estimate, released today by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), is 3.69% lower than the one in March. The drop is mainly the result of a decline in soybean production.

According to the Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production, the decline was caused by climatic conditions early in the year, most severely affecting the South and Center-West regions, where the states that are the biggest soybean producers are located.

According to the survey, the Northeast region, which is responsible for 8.86% of overall production in this year's harvest, shows a 36.86% increase over last year.

Reporter: Cristiane Ribeiro
Translator: David Silberstein