Brazil's Agropalma expects 20% rise in new crop output
Agropalma, Brazil's top palm oil producer, anticipates a 20% increase in its new crop output compared to the previous cycle, which was impacted by El Niño, an executive told Reuters.
By Roberto Samora SAO PAULO, Sept 21 (Reuters) — Agropalma, Brazil’s leading palm oil producer, expects output in the new crop cycle to rise by about 20% versus last year, which was negatively affected by the El Niño weather event in 2023-24, a company executive told Reuters. Oil palm, grown in Brazil's Amazon, takes two crop cycles to more fully reflect the effects of higher temperatures and reduced rainfall caused by El Niño, which explains why output is expected to increase despite 2026 also being an El Niño year. The 2026/27 El Niño event has been forecast to be the strongest ever recorded and may affect production in the coming years, Agropalma said.
“What is happening, and what is very visible to us, is a change in the entire climate regime, not only in rainfall but also in temperature,” Agropalma Agricultural Director Andre Borba said in an interview. Agropalma, which accounts for a quarter of Brazil’s palm oil production, last had a strong harvest in 2022, Borba said, citing the impacts of past El Niño events. “If we have water stress, temperature stress or humidity stress, instead of the palm tree producing a female inflorescence that will become a fruit bunch, it produces a male one, which does not produce,” Borba said.
“In 2024, we had significant problems with lack of rainfall and higher temperatures, which are hurting this year’s crop. But 2025 suffered even more because of what happened in 2023,” he added. Higher temperatures will have a greater impact on the crop than reduced rainfall under the influence of the forecast El Niño, he added. 2 degrees Fahrenheit), two degrees above normal.
Maximum temperatures, which are usually around 32 degrees, are reaching 36 degrees this year,” he said. El Niño will weigh on plantations through February next year, Borba said, adding that the phenomenon will likely delay rains that normally begin intensifying over crop areas in the state of Para in December. Agropalma will use cover crop pueraria to reduce soil temperature, he said. “With...
much lower temperatures, we are able to retain more soil moisture, and our plantations suffer less from the effects of drought and heat," he said. com; +55 11 95361-2170)