Brazil's central-western Mato Grosso state revised its production cost forecasts for the 2026-27 corn, soybean and cotton crops slightly upwards in its July report, driven by higher fertilizers expenses.
The 2026-27 corn crops that use advanced technologies in Mato Grosso could cost about R3,779/hectare ($729/ha) to be produced, a 0.3pc increase from June's forecast, according to the state's institute of agricultural economics Imea. That is above the R3,320/ha spent in the 2025-26 season, considering higher fertilizer, pesticides and seeds costs.
Estimated fertilizer costs rose by 1.1pc to R1,550/ha in Imea's monthly report. That is also above the R1,422/ha spent last crop.
Expected pesticide and seeds costs dipped by 0.1pc and 0.5pc in the month, reaching R912/ha and R844/ha, respectively. The forecasts remain above R738/ha for pesticides and R778/ha for seeds spent in the 2025-26 season.
Soybeans
Estimated costs for the 2026-27 soybean crop ticked up by 0.04pc to R4,323/ha in July from R4,321/ha projected a month prior.
That is above the R4,181/ha spent in the 2025-26 season, mostly because of higher expected fertilizer costs.
Projected fertilizers expenses increased by 0.2pc to R1,993/ha in the month. The forecast is above the R1,881/ha for the 2025-26 season.
Estimated seed costs fell by 0.2pc from the previous report, reaching R474/ha in July. The expense remains below the R607/ha from the last cycle.
Imea slightly lowered its projections for pesticide costs by 0.1pc to nearly R1,347/ha in the month from the previous report. Pesticide costs reached R1,218/ha in the prior cycle.
Cotton
Production costs for Mato Grosso's 2026-27 cotton crop may reach R10,629/ha, a 0.1pc increase from the previous report, but still below the R10,776/ha in the previous cycle.
Fertilizer and pesticides costs drove the monthly expected increase, up by 0.1pc and nearly 0.2pc to R3,977/ha and R4,569/ha, respectively, in the latest estimates. The forecast is still higher than the R3,891/ha fertilizers costs in the previous cycle. Pesticides estimates are below the R 4,670/ha spent in the 2025-26 season.
Seed cost projections slightly fell by 0.03pc, reaching R1,069/ha in July, but still above the R1,045/ha in the 2025-26 season.
Crop costs in July were calculated based on an average Brazilian real-US dollar exchange rate of R5.1223/$1 for corn, R5.1604/$1 for soybeans and R5.1559/$1 for cotton.
