May 30, 2006

 

Argentina's 2005/06 soybean crop 95 percent collected

 

 

Argentina's farmers had collected 95 percent of the 2005/06 soybean crop by Saturday, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported Monday (May 29).

 

That puts the collection pace up 4.2 percentage points from a week ago and up one point from a year ago.

 

As of Friday they had collected 14,662,356 hectares, putting output so far at 39 million tonnes.

 

Planted area totals 15.435 million hectares, up from 14.67 million hectares a year earlier.

 

The average yield last week was 2.66 tonnes/hectare. The Exchange has forecast 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. 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 80.8 percent of the 2005/06 corn crop by Saturday, putting the collection pace up almost 8 percentage points from a week earlier but down 6.4 points from a year ago.

 

As of Saturday farmers had harvested 1.608 million hectares, putting production so far at 10.337 million tonnes.

 

The average yield last week was 6.45 tonnes/hectare.

 

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

 

Farmers planted less corn this season and a long drought 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.