Brazilian consultancy Agroconsult on Thursday slashed its forecasts for Brazil's current corn and soy crops, citing a recent drought in southern states.

Agroconsult cut its estimate for the 2011-12 soy crop to 73.52 million metric tons, down 2% from an initial forecast published last month as well as the previous year's bumper crop.

The firm sees Brazil's summer corn production at 36.52 million tons, reflecting a 9% reduction from the December estimate but a 2% increase from the 2010-11 summer corn crop.

Agroconsult analyst Andre Pessoa said a drought in southern states such as Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina has already caused irreversible losses for the corn crop. Soybeans, on the other hand, could still benefit from rainfall.

Pessoa added that the hardest-hit regions could see some relief from the drought with rains expected Thursday.

-By Paul Kiernan, Dow Jones Newswires; (+55)11-3544-7074; paul.kiernan@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 12, 2012 08:06 ET (13:06 GMT)