April 29, 2008

Argentina soy yields lower on dry weather

Argentina's soy yields are below last season's figures due to dry conditions, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Friday.

The grains exchange noted that the recent yields show the drought's impact more clearly.

By Friday, farmers had gathered 58 percent of harvestable lands on the 16.9 million hectares seeded with 2007-08 soy.

This represented a gain of 10.5 percentage points from a week earlier and surpassed last season's tempo by 3.6 points.

Frost-related damage from last week was also confirmed in Cordoba, Buenos Aires and La Pampa provinces, the major soy-growing districts.

Yet the grains exchange left its forecast for 2007/08 production at 48 million tonnes.

The government estimates this season's crop at 47.2 million tonnes, just below last season's record output, while the USDA estimates an Argentine harvest of 47 million tonnes.

Argentina is the world's third largest soy exporter and its top supplier of soy oil and soymeal.