June 27, 2006

 

Argentina completes harvesting of 2005/06 soy crop

 

 

Farmers in Argentina have finished harvesting the 2005/06 soybean crop, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported Monday (Jun 26).

 

The collected area totalled 15.420 million hectares while production hit a record 40.748 million tonnes.

 

That puts area up from 14.67 million hectares a year earlier and production up from 38.85 million tonnes.

 

Output is up mainly because farmers planted more soy this season.

 

The average yield was 2.64 tonnes/hectare, up 2.3 percent from the previous year.

 

The US Department of Agriculture sees Argentina's soybean production at 41.3 million tonnes while the Agriculture Secretariat has put it at 40 million tonnes.

 

 

Corn

 

Farmers had also harvested 93.6 percent of the 2005/06 corn crop by Friday, putting the collection pace up about two percentage points from a week earlier but down a similar amount from a year ago.

 

"Elevated moisture levels continued to delay the maturation of crops planted late in the season in northern and southern parts of Cordoba and in parts of Santa Fe," the Exchange said.

 

By Friday farmers had harvested 2.06 million hectares, putting production so far at 13.387 million tonnes.

 

The average yield last week was unchanged at 6.5 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 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.