February 7, 2006

Argentina's farmers make no progress planting 2005/06 soy crop

Argentine farmers made no progress last week as they attempted to finish planting the 2005/06 soybean crop, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported Monday.

As of Saturday, area was 98.4 percent planted, unchanged from the previous week.

The Exchange did not say how the pace compares with that of the previous year, when area was one million hectares smaller. The Exchange expects farmers to plant a record 15.62 million hectares of soy this season, up from 14.67 million hectares a year earlier. As of Saturday planted area totalled 15.364 million hectares.

Meanwhile, the Exchange said fresh rain last week was "crucial" to the crop's development and that this has helped prevent potential yields from declining.

"However, as of Feb 4 the lack of moisture that the crop has had to deal with has caused national productivity to decline 10 percent," the Exchange said. "Given that first-crop soybeans have fewer grains and second-crop beans have considerable plant stand problems, we assume that yields in the main production area will not match those of the previous harvest."

The US Department of Agriculture has forecast Argentina's 2005/06 soybean output at a record 40.5 million tonnes, compared with the previous record of 39 million tonnes a year ago.

Farmers have planted more soybeans each year because they are cheaper to grow than corn. They also sell for more money in commodities markets.