Despite great agriculture performance Brazil’s economy first quarter result disappoints

Brazil’s GDP grew 1.9% in the first quarter, compared to the same period last year, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, said.

The first-quarter GDP number, however, came in below government and economists' project

ions of 0.80% to 1% growth in the January-March period, but it bolstered expectations that Brazil's economy could start recovering in 2013.

The Brazilian economy grew 7.5% in 2010, marking its best performance in a decade, but then expanded by only 2.7% in 2011 and 0.90% last year.

The government expects the economy to grow between 3 and 4% this year, but private sector analysts are forecasting growth of 2.93% this year and 3.5% in 2014.

The agricultural industry, whose production surged 9.7% was responsible for most of the growth between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of this year, the IBGE said.

The service sector grew just 0.50% and manufacturing expanded at a rate of only 0.30% during the same period, the IBGE said.

The agricultural industry's solid performance was mainly due to soy production, which rose 23.3%, compared to the first quarter of 2012, while corn production grew 9.1%, tobacco output rose 5.7% and rice production increased 5.1%.

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