Aécio Amado
Reporter Agência Brasil

Rio - Weak performance in the agricultural sector caused a slowdown in agribusiness growth in the first half. Whereas the Brazilian industrial sector as a whole had growth of 5.0%, the government statistical bureau (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística) (IBGE) reports that agribusiness growth was only 0.3%. A breakdown in the report shows that cattle farming was up 2.5%, but crop farming was down 0.7%.

A note from the IBGE says the reasons for weaker growth were "lower international prices for commodities, rising production costs, less access to credit and the weak dollar, along with adverse weather in the central-southern part of Brazil this year that reduced the size of grain harvests."

Translator: Allen Bennett