January 20, 2004

 

 

Argentina's 2003-04 Wheat 99% Collected As Of January 16

 

Farmers in Argentina had finished collecting 99% of the 2003-04 wheat crop by Jan. 16, the Agriculture Secretariat reported Monday.

 

This puts the pace of collection up six percentage points from a week ago but down one point from a year ago.

 

The Secretariat has forecast the 2003-04 area at 6 million hectares, compared with 6.3 million a year ago.

 

Last month, the Secretariat estimated 2003-04 production at 12.4 million metric tons, compared with 12.3 million a year ago.

 

A total of 5,595,800 hectares have been collected so far, while some 327,485 hectares have been lost because of unusually dry conditions caused by a drought earlier this year.

 

The Secretariat's estimates differed a bit from those provided by the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange, which said that as of Saturday, farmers had collected 99.4% of 5.475 million hectares.

 

Around 354,700 hectares of this have been lost because of poor climatic conditions, according to the exchange.

 

The exchange said the average yield so far this year is 2.45 tons per hectare and that production thus far amounts to 13.364 million tons.

 

Based on these yields, the exchange estimated total 2003-04 wheat output of about 13.5 million tons, compared with 12.16 million a year ago.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated 2003-04 wheat output at 12.5 million tons.