January 6, 2004

 

 

Argentina's 2003-04 Corn 94% Planted

 

Argentine farmers had planted 93.9% of the 2003-04 corn crop as of 3 January, up from 88.3% a week ago, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said in its weekly crops report.

 

The exchange did not say how the pace of planting compares with that of the previous year.

 

The exchange estimates planted area of commercially tradable corn at 2.2 million hectares. This is down from 2.4 million hectares a year earlier.

 

As of Saturday, farmers had planted 2,066,100 million hectares of 2003-04 corn, according to the exchange.

 

The only areas left to plant are those where corn was planted late in extremely northern parts of Santa Fe and northeastern parts of Cordoba, according to the exchange.

 

"Meanwhile, recent rain helped to speed up activity in northern provinces that had suffered delays because of a lack of water," the exchange said.

 

Total planted area, including corn used for feed, will not exceed 2.75 million hectares, the exchange said. This would be a decline of 9.8% from the previous year, according to the exchange.

 

The exchange said that despite recent rain, the 2003-04 corn crop will not post better yields than a year ago because of damage caused by Argentina's long drought, which previously soaked moisture out of the soil.

 

The Agriculture Secretariat expects 2003-04 seeded area to total 2.796 million hectares. In 2002-03, Argentina planted 3.092 million hectares of corn and produced 15 million metric tons of the grain, Secretariat data show.

 

According to the exchange, Argentina produced 15.25 million tons of corn last year.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated 2003-04 Argentine corn production at 13.5 million tons.

 

SOYBEANS

 

Meanwhile, the exchange said farmers had planted 95.3% of the 2003-04 soybean crop by Saturday.

 

This is up from 89.5% a week ago.

 

The exchange did not say how the pace of planting compares with that of the previous year.

 

Area is expected to total a record 13.95 million hectares.

 

While the crop is developing well in most parts, it is evolving slowly in the province of Cordoba, where it is suffering from a "scarcity of water in the soil." Here, the crop is "developing poorly and planting is slow."

 

In December, the exchange estimated that 2003-04 soybean production will jump 1.1 million tons from a year ago, putting output at almost 36.4 million tons.

 

Last year, farmers planted 12.8 million hectares and produced 35.27 million tons of soybeans, according to the exchange. The USDA estimates 2003- 04 soybean production at 36.5 million tons.

 

Some 13,294,240 hectares had been planted by Saturday.

 

SUNSEED

 

Finally, farmers have finished planting all of the 2003-04 sunseed crop by Saturday.

 

This is up from 98.4% the previous week.

 

The exchange did not say how the pace of planting compares with the previous year.

 

The 2003-04 sunseed area totaled 1.95 million hectares, the exchange said. This is down 15.2% from a year ago, according to exchange data.

 

The Agriculture Secretariat expects area to total 2.058 million hectares, down from 2.32 million the previous year, according to official data.

 

Neither the exchange nor the Secretariat has forecast total sunseed production for 2003-04.

 

The USDA has estimated 2003-04 sunseed output at 3.3 million tons.