January 21, 2008

Argentina soy conditions varied, rainfall helps

Rainfall over some parts of the Argentina's farm belt this week helped the developing soy crop, but dry conditions continue in other areas, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said in its weekly crop report Friday.

The exchange said crop conditions vary widely depending on the rainfall, the moisture retention capacity of the soils and prior management of the fields.

Farmers have planted 97 percent of the record 16.9 million hectares going to soy this season, according to the exchange. The planting pace is 2 percentage points behind the pace at this time last year.

Meanwhile, high temperatures and dry weather continue to challenge the 2007-08 corn crop, with yields expected to be lower than the excellent productivity seen last season, the exchange said.

Conditions are mixed in Cordoba province, the traditional center of corn production. In general, the moisture shortages were partially covered by January's rains, that caused good growth, with the majority of the crops achieving good plant size. However, some areas did not receive sufficient rainfall during critical development stages needed to reach full yield potential, the exchange elaborated.

As of Friday, farmers had planted 97 percent of the 2007-08 corn crop, 1.5 percentage points behind the pace a year earlier.

Argentina's historical production estimates in millions tonnes, according to the Agriculture Secretariat: