March 8, 2005

Argentina's 04-05 corn crop seen at 19.2 million tonnes

Argentine farmers will harvest 19.2 million tonnes of 2004-05 corn, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange estimated Monday.

If the forecast holds, it would put production up from 13.1 million tonnes a year earlier.

Production is on the rise thanks to a larger planted area and higher-than-expected yields.

As of Saturday, farmers had collected 7.6 per cent of the crop, according to the exchange.

So far farmers have collected 194,400 hectares, putting production at 1,365,364 tonnes. The average yield so far is 7.02 tonnes per hectare, up from 6.15 tonnes a year ago.

Planted area totals 2.565 million hectares, compared with 2.28 million a year earlier.

Last year Argentina produced 13.1 million tonnes of corn, according to the exchange.

The US Department of Agriculture has forecast Argentina's 2004-05 output at 17.5 million tonnes while the Agriculture Secretariat has put it at about 19 million tonnes.