May 16, 2006

 

Argentina's 2005/06 soybeans 86 percent collected 

 

 

Argentina's farmers had collected 86 percent of the 2005/06 soybean crop by Saturday, putting the collection pace up 8.2 percentage points from a week ago and up one percentage point from a year earlier, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported Monday (May 15).

 

Farmers are making rapid progress given that area is up about 800,000 hectares from a year ago.

 

As of Friday they had collected 13,258,735 hectares, putting output so far at 35.6 million tonnes.

 

Planted area totalled 15.62 million hectares, up from 14.67 million hectares a year earlier.

 

The average yield last week was 2.69 tonnes/hectare, though the exchange expects that figure to drop slowly as the harvest progresses through different parts of the country. By the end of the harvest, the average yield will likely total around 2.64 tonnes/hectare, the exchange said.

 

That would put the size of harvest at a record 40.7 million tonnes.

 

If the forecast holds, it would put production up from 38.85 million tonnes a year ago.

 

Production is up because farmers planted more soy this season.

 

In many areas, soybeans are Argentina's most profitable crop.

 

The US Department of Agriculture sees Argentina's soybean production at 40.5 million tonnes while the Agriculture Secretariat has put it at 40 million tonnes.

 

 

Corn

 

Farmers had also harvested 65.8 percent of the 2005/06 corn crop by Saturday, putting the collection pace up 8.5 percentage points from a week earlier but down by a similar amount from a year ago.

 

As of Saturday farmers had harvested 1.448 million hectares, putting production so far at 9.28 million tonnes.

 

The average yield last week was 6.58 tonnes/hectare, up from 6.38 tonnes a week ago.

 

The USDA has forecast Argentina's 2005/06 corn output at 14 million tonnes while the exchange puts it at 14.4 million tonnes, down from about 19.62 million tonnes a year earlier.

 

Production estimates are down because farmers planted less corn and dry weather damaged what was planted. Planted area totals 2.26 million hectares, down from 2.63 million hectares a year ago.

 

The 2005/06 area, including corn grown for use as animal feed, totals around 2.85 million hectares.

 

Argentines plant corn September through January and harvest it February through July.