March 15, 2005

Argentina's 2004-05 corn crop 15.2 percent collected

Argentine farmers had collected 15.2 percent of the 2004-05 corn crop, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said Monday.

That puts the pace of collection down from 17.9 percent a year ago.

Planted area this year totals 2.565 million hectares, up from 2.28 million previously.

Thanks to the increase in area and higher yields, the Exchange expects production to rise to 19.2 million tonnes, up from 13.1 million tonnes a year earlier.

As of Saturday, farmers had collected 388,495 hectares, putting production at 2,872,053 tonnes. The average yield so far is 7.39 tonnes per hectare, up from 6.49 tonnes a year ago.

The crop is developing normally in most areas.

The US Department of Agriculture has forecast Argentina's 2004-05 output at 19.5 million tonnes, while the Agriculture Secretariat has put it at 19 million.

According to the Exchange, Argentina's record for corn production occurred in 1997-98, when the country turned out 19.4 million tonnes.