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Rio de Janeiro, May 8, 2008 (EFE via COMTEX) -- Brazil will bring a record harvest of 142.6 million tons of grain this year, 7.2 percent more than in 2007, amid the crisis sparked by the reduced supply of some products and the rise in food prices all over the world, a government agency said Thursday.

Brazilian production of cereals, legumes and oilseeds in 2008 will exceed by almost 10 million tons the 2007 harvest, which set a record at 133.1 million tons and was 13.7 percent higher than the 2006 harvest, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, said.

Brazil is self-sufficient in all these products, except for wheat, which it buys mainly from Argentina to cover its domestic demand.

The harvest, according to IBGE projections, will grow spurred mainly by an increase in production of wheat and corn.

The wheat harvest will be 12.4 percent higher than last year and the corn harvest in the year's second growing season will be 15.7 percent larger.

Wheat and corn are the cereals that, along with rice, are leading the rise in food prices around the world due to greater demand and the decline in some countries' harvests.

The predicted 2008 harvest is based on data gathered in April is 1.5 percent higher than that which had been calculated based on the March figures.

Brazil's production will increase mainly due to the rise in productivity but also due to the country's 3.2 percent expansion in planted cropland, which stands at 46.8 million hectares (about 117 million acres). EFE

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