Crop condition was generally average in Brazil from October 2014 to January 2015. The harvest of wheat was completed in early January. Currently, soybean and first season maize are at grain filling stage while the planting of the second season maize is still ongoing. The reporting period recorded a 14% drop in rainfall compared to average and a 1.5°C increase in temperature at the national level. The unfavorable climatic conditions induced overall low biomass in Brazil. However,conditions varied from place to place. In the southernmost areas, including RioGrande Do Sul and Santa Catarina, sufficient rainfall benefited crop development and yield accumulation. In contrast, below average rainfallhampered the crops in the central-west, the southeast region, and the northeast region. Spatial NDVI patterns together with NDVI cluster profiles alsoillustrate the above average condition in the south region, and average tobelow average condition in central and north Brazil. The observations areconsistent with high maximum VCI mainly in southern Brazil, including the keygrain producing state of Rio Grande Do Sul. Overall, crop condition for thewhole of Brazil is slightly above both the average and the previous yearaccording to the NDVI development graph. CropWatch puts wheat production for2014-2015 at 6.7 million tons, an increase of 9% compared with the previousyear (see also table B.3 in Annex B.)

Figure3.8. Brazil crop condition, October 2014-January 2015

(a)Crop condition development graph based on NDVI     (b)Maximum VCI

(c)Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA         (d)NDVI profiles