May 28, 2004
Argentina's 2003-04 Corn, Soy Crop Quality Akin To Previous Years
The quality of Argentina's 2003-04 corn and soybean crops is similar to that of previous years, experts revealed.
Around 50% of Argentine corn is genetically modified and at least 95% of soybeans are grown this way, making Argentina the world's No. 2 user of modified crops, the Agriculture Secretariat said.
Argentina is expected to produce 12.5 million metric tons of corn and 32 million tons of soybeans this year, according to the Agriculture Secretariat.
Both crops are normally planted from February to July and harvested between September to January.
As of Friday, farmers had collected 73% of the corn and 84% of the soybean crops, Secretariat data show.
CORN
Argentina produces mainly hard corn, some semi-hard corn and almost no dent corn, according to Salvador Addamo, chief crops analyst at the Rosario Cereals Exchange.
Unlike in the U.S., Argentina grows a lot of flint corn, which is characterized by rounded crowns and kernels that are smaller than those of dent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"Hard Argentine corn sells well in the European Union, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia," said Addamo, explaining why this corn is so prevalent. "According to exporters, buyers prefer hard types of corn."
But buyers also consider other factors when purchasing corn. Addamo said these factors, or quality guidelines, are similar to those in the U.S. and other countries.
Among other things, buyers are interested in grade, test weight and the percentage of broken and damaged grains.
In all four categories, this year's corn harvest is similar to that of previous years, Addamo said.
The vast bulk of corn, which is not tested, is Grade 1. Corn is normally only tested when exporters are concerned about quality and want to know how much of a discount they should get if the corn fails to meet certain criteria.
Over the past four years, the corn that has passed through Addamo's lab has had average test weight of 76.6 kilograms per hectoliter.
Meanwhile, the amount of damaged grains has averaged 2.37% while the amount of broke grains averaged 2.33%.
"We have observed only a slight increase in the percentage of broken grains," Addamo says.
As of last week, Addamo's lab had analyzed just under two million tons of 2003-04 corn.
The average test weight of this was 76.61 tons per hectoliter. The amount of damaged grains came in at 2.05% and broken grains totaled 1.92%.
While many in the U.S. measure the amount of "foreign material" in corn, this is uncommon here, Addamo said.
"Statistically, this is not normally considered because in Argentina corn usually has an average of less than 0.50% of foreign material," Addamo said.
So far this year, the amount of foreign material found in corn has totaled less than 0.32%, he said.
Another factor that is not normally measured in Argentina is the amount of Aflatoxin present in corn. Aflatoxin is a naturally occurring by-product of mold. At certain levels it can be toxic to plants, animals and even humans.
"No statistical control exists for Aflatoxin content in corn," said Addamo, though he said the laboratory will test Aflatoxin if exporters require it.
"For now, and in previous harvests, there have not been any problems (with Aflatoxin), Addamo said.
Farmers usually deliver corn with a humidity level of around 14.5%, though this diminished while the corn is stored, Addamo said. By the time corn is sold for export, its average humidity level oscillates between 13% and 14%.
SOYBEANS
Local factories that crush soybean into oil and meal buy around 80% of Argentina's soybean production.
"Because of this, we have got used to a method of buying soybeans in what is called 'factory condition,' whereby the tolerable level of broken grains is set at 50% before it faces discounted pricing," Addamo said.
As a result of this, and the fact that soybean quality does not vary much from year to year, most of Argentina's soybean production is not analyzed by local labs.
However, Addamo said Argentina is experiencing a change in crop quality related to the expansion of soybean farming in northern provinces.
As soybean production expands in northern parts of Argentina, farmers are beginning to produce more beans during crop cycles that are shorter than those elsewhere.
One result of this is that northern farmers are producing more and more damaged grains, otherwise known as "green grains," Addamo said.
When these grains hit the commercial circuit, they can cause operational problems for oilseed crushers because the damaged grains cannot be processed as easily, Addamo said.
In Buenos Aires, home of the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange and its in-house crop laboratory, a small number of soybeans are analyzed for their quality each campaign.
As of May 6, the exchange's crops laboratory had analyzed around 79,000 tons of commercial quality soybeans.
The amount of foreign material in these samples average around 1.24%, according to the lab. Meanwhile, the number of broken grains averaged 17.51% and total amount of damaged grains came in at around 0.54%.
In general, Argentine soybeans have an average crude protein content of around 40% and a vegetable oil content of about 20%, according to Juan Carlos Batista, who runs the government's crop-quality program.
"Protein content has gone down in recent years because of the expansion of farming on marginal land that has low nitrogen levels," Batista said.
This means that the quality of Argentina's soybeans has varied more in recent years than the quality of local corn.
"Corn has not expanded as much as soy because it is not as flexible or adaptable as are soybeans," Batista said.
However, this may change in the future as more and more farmers begin to use genetically modified corn seeds.
Just four years ago, only 5% of Argentine corn was genetically modified, Batista said. That percentage rose to 35% last year and now hovers at around 50%, he said.
"If producers increased their use of genetically modified corn, "area would expand," Batista said.
