April 11, 2008

 

Argentina soy output forecast increased to 47.5 million tonnes

 

 

Although Argentina's soy harvest has been delayed by the recent strike, but soy production forecast has been pulled up to 47.5 million tonnes on planted area totalling 17 million-hectares, according to a USDA attached report posted on Thursday.

 

The agricultural sector had announced a 30-day truce on April 2, during which the harvest will begin full-force.

 

Production forecast has been raised as several producers are reporting higher yields than expected, particularly in the central-south of Santa Fe province. Other indications have shown that yields across Argentina will generally be slightly higher than expected, which supports the forecast increase.

 

It has been estimated that about 15 percent of total soy crop will be harvested by the end of the week compared to the average 26 to 28 percent in the previous years of the same period. Farmers are opting to harvest soy while leaving the remaining corn crop to be collected later due to a higher risk of yield losses to soy. There are concerns that rainfalls could hinder soy harvest and degrade yields, while those risks are much lower for corn.

 

Due to the strike, soy crushing operations were severely affected, bringing down overall crush number by 500,000 tonnes. Lack of soy stocks had forced many plants to operate at reduced capacity or even to stop operation.

 

 

Sunflower seed

 

USDA's forecast for sunflower seed production has been maintained at 4.5 million tonnes on a harvested area of 2.7 million-hectares.

 

It has been estimated that the sunflower crop is about 88 percent harvested, up 7 percent from the previous week.

 

Most of the sunflower harvesting in the northern provinces took place before the strike whereas the harvesting in the southern provinces were slowed down due to the strike, but should be completed in the coming weeks.