January 1, 2007

 

Argentina's 2006/07 soy planting at 88.1 percent

 

 

Argentine farmers had planted 88.1 percent of the forecast 16.1 million hectares, up 5.9 points from last week, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said in its weekly crop report Friday (Dec 29).

 

Farmers were moving ahead quickly with planting after a delay because of rain over the Christmas weekend, the Exchange said.

 

The Agriculture Secretariat forecasts a record 16 million hectares will be planted with soy in 2006/07.

 

The USDA sees Argentine farmers producing 42 million tonnes of soy in 2006/07.

 

 

Corn

 

As of Dec 29, 92 percent of the 2.7 million hectares forecast for corn had been planted, in line with the same date last year, according to the Exchange.

 

According to the Agriculture Secretariat, Argentina will plant an estimated 3.45 million hectares of corn during the 2006/07 crop cycle, up from 3.18 million in 2005/06.

 

The Secretariat's forecast includes corn destined for animal feed, which the Exchange doesn't include in its estimate.

 

The USDA sees Argentina's 2006/07 corn production at 19 million tonnes.

 

 

Wheat

 

Farmers sped up the 2006/07 wheat harvest, taking advantage of dry weather over the past week to bring in 18.4 percent of the new crop, the Exchange said.

 

As of Dec 29, Argentina has harvested 83.1 percent of the 2006/07 wheat crop, compared to 70.5 percent at the same date last year, the Exchange said.

 

The Exchange estimates new-crop production of 13.8 million tonnes, with average yields at 2.56 tonnes per hectare.

 

The Agriculture Secretariat forecasts 2006/07 wheat production at 13.7 million   tonnes.

 

The USDA is expecting 14.2 million tonnes of wheat from the 2006/07 crop.

 

 

Sunseed

 

As of Friday, farmers have completed seeding of the 2006/07 sunseed crop.

 

The Exchange forecasts sunseed area at 2.385 million hectares.

 

According to the Agriculture Secretariat, Argentina will plant 2.36 million hectares with sunseed in 2006/07, up 4.4 percent from last year.

 

The USDA estimates Argentina will produce 4 million tonnes of sunseed from the 2006/07 crop.