July 18, 2006

 

Argentina's 2005/06 corn crop 99 percent harvested

 

 

Argentina's farmers had harvested 99 percent of the 2005/06 corn crop by Friday (Jul 14), the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported Monday.

 

That puts the collection pace up one percentage point from a week ago.

 

The Exchange did not say how the pace compares with that of the previous year.

 

By Friday farmers had harvested 2,181,065 million hectares, putting production so far at 14.215 million tonnes.

 

The average yield last week was unchanged at 6.52 tonnes/hectare.

 

Yields are down 16 percent from a year ago because of a lack of soil moisture, the Exchange said. Total corn output is expected to decline 31.4 percent from a year earlier.

 

The US Department of Agriculture 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 drought damaged what was planted. Planted area totals 2.26 million hectares, down from 2.63 million 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.