SAO PAULO, May 9 (Reuters) - Devastating floods that hit Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state should cause farmers to lose an estimated 1.32 million metric tons of soybeans there, affecting overall soybean output in the world's largest producer and exporter of the oilseed, consultancy AgResource said on Thursday.
The new estimate puts soybean production in Brazil's southernmost state at 20.1 million tons, which still ranks it as the second biggest soybean producer in Brazil, behind only Mato Grosso.
Brazil's total soybean crop is now forecast at 144.59 million tons, compared with 145.46 million tons projected previously, a 870,000-ton difference, AgResource said.
The reduction in the national harvest estimate is smaller than the total losses projected for Rio Grande do Sul because AgResource rose the estimated size of soy planted area in other parts of country, the consultancy's general-director Raphael Mandarino said.
AgResource also cut the corn harvest of Rio Grande do Sul by around 830,000 tons. The state is now expected to produce 4.4 million tons of the cereal.
The unprecedented weather events that swept southern Brazil caught farmers in the finishing stages of the corn and soy harvests. Over the past days, heavy downpours left farmland and entire towns under water, killing people, livestock and destroying critical infrastructure.
Rio Grande do Sul, which does not plant a second corn crop like farmers in Central Brazil, is the country's largest corn producer in summer.
AgResource also revised Brazil's total corn harvest estimate, putting it at 113 million tons, a reduction of 0.95% compared to the previous forecast.
(Reporting by Roberto Samora; Writing by Peter Frontini and Ana Mano; Editing by Steven Grattan and Aurora Ellis)
