July 18, 2006

Argentina's 2006/07 wheat 70 percent planted by Jul 14

Argentine farmers had planted almost 70 percent of the 2006/07 wheat crop by Friday, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported Monday.

That puts the planting pace up from 56 percent a week ago and up 10.2 points from a year earlier, partly because this season's crop is smaller.

Farmers have planted 3,647,200 hectares so far.

The Exchange initially expected planted area to total 5.7 million hectares, but excessively dry weather has led the Exchange to cut that forecast to 5.45 million hectares.

Last year, area totalled 5.2 million hectares.

In 2005/06 Argentina produced 12 million tonnes of wheat, according to the Exchange. That was down from 16.345 million tonnes a year earlier, when good weather helped lift yields on a bigger planted area.

The US Department of Agriculture has forecast Argentina's 2006/07 wheat crop at 14.3 million tonnes.