July 13, 2004

Argentina's 03-04 Corn 97% Collected By Saturday
 
As of Saturday, Argentine farmers had collected 97.9% of the 2003-04 corn harvest, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said Monday.
 
The pace of collection is virtually in line with that of a year ago at this time, when 98% of the crop had been collected.
 
So far, farmers have produced 12.774 million metric tons, according to the exchange.
 
Collectible area stands at 2.172 million hectares and almost 2.126 million hectares have been collected thus far.
 
The average yield last week was 6.01 tons per hectare, down from 6.7 tons a year ago at this time, according to the exchange.
 
The exchange expects output to total 13 million tons.
 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecast 2003-04 corn production at 12.5 million tons and the Secretariat has projected output at 12.4 million.
 
Last year, Argentina produced 15.04 million tons of corn, according to the Secretariat.
 
The USDA has forecast 2004-05 Argentine corn output at 15.5 million tons.