February 1, 2012

Argentina's 2011/12 soy forecast at 45 million tonnes

Due to the impact of a prolonged drought, Argentina's 2011/12 soy crop is expected to come in at 45 million tonnes and corn output is seen at 18.8 million tonnes, Andre Pessoa, Chief Executive of crop analysts Agroconsult said on Tuesday (Jan 31).

A long dry spell related to the La Nina weather anomaly has dimmed hope that Argentina will replenish global corn supplies after a disappointing US crop. The South American country is the No. two exporter of corn and the No. three supplier of soy.

Farmers are now close to finishing planting of soy and corn, the country's most important grains crops, and improvements linked to recent rains are likely to be patchy.

Both 2011/12 soy and corn harvests are expected to be smaller than in the previous crop year, underlining concerns that the drought might crimp world food supplies at a time of growing demand.

Argentina supplies about 20% of the world's corn exports, 12% of its soy and nearly half its soyoil, used for cooking and in the booming global bio fuels sector.

Harvesting of Argentina's 2010/11 soy ended with a crop of 48.9 million tonnes, while the previous season's harvest was a record 52.7 million tonnes, according to government figures.