April 21, 2008

Argentina soy hit by frost, yet with limited damage

Argentina's 2007-08 soy was hit by sharp frosts this week, which will stunt grain filling in some of the late soy but would not lower the output forecast of 48 million tonnes, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said on Friday.

The harvest progressed rapidly over the past week, reaching 48 percent of the total area, the exchange said. The pace is one percentage point ahead of the harvest rate at this point last season.

Yields average 3.14 tonnes per hectare, down 103 kilogrammes per hectare from the extraordinary yields seen last year, when heavy rainfall drenched the crop throughout key development periods.

Meanwhile, the 2007-08 Argentine corn crop was also hit by frost, but the bulk of the crop in the hardest hit areas had already been harvested, so the effect is expected to be limited, the exchange said.

To date, 44 percent of the corn crop has been harvested, six percentage points ahead of the harvest pace at this time last year.

Yields average 7.14 tonnes per hectare, down sharply from the 8.7 tonnes per hectare seen at this point last year, when they were exceptionally high due to heavy rainfall.

The exchange sees 2007-08 corn production of 21 million tonnes.