July 20, 2006

 

Argentina sees 2006/07 wheat area down at 5.5 million hectares

 

 

Argentine farmers will plant 5.5 million hectares of 2006/07 wheat, the Agriculture Secretariat forecast Wednesday (Jul 19) in its monthly crop report.

 

That puts the forecast down from 5.6 million hectares a month ago. If it holds, it would put planted area up 5.6 percent from a year earlier, when farmers produced 12.5 million tonnes of wheat.

 

The Secretariat said persistently dry weather is the main reason why the planted area estimate is down from a month ago. A drought in parts of Buenos Aires and La Pampa has sapped the soil of moisture in those areas.

 

Argentine wheat is planted May through September and collected October through January.

 

 

Soy

 

The Secretariat increased forecast for the 2005/06 soybean harvest, saying that farmers will collect a record 40.2 million tonnes of 2005/06 soybeans. That puts the forecast up 200,000 tonnes from a month ago.

 

The Secretariat also upped its estimate for the planted area of soybeans to 15.3 million hectares, compared with a previous estimate of 15.2 million hectares.

 

Last season area totalled 14.4 million hectares.

 

Area is seen up partly because dry weather prevented many farmers from sowing corn or wheat and those fields were planted with soybeans. Farmers also planted more soy because of its higher price compared with other crops.

 

In 2004/05 Argentina produced a record 38.3 million tonnes of soy, according to the Secretariat.

 

The US Department of Agriculture has forecast Argentina's 2005/06 soybean output at 41.3 million tonnes.

 

 

Corn

 

The Secretariat also raised its forecast for 2005/06 corn production to 14.5 million tonnes, up from 14 million tonnes previously.

 

The estimate for the planted area of 2005/06 corn was bumped up to 3.16 million hectares, compared with 3.05 million hectares a month earlier. In any case, area is seen down about 10 percent from a year ago.

 

Area and output are down because of bad weather during the planting season.

 

Argentina produced a record 20.5 million tonnes during 2004/05 corn harvest, according to the Secretariat.

 

Production rose because area and yields were up. Excellent weather and better use of agri-chemicals and seed varieties boosted yields to record levels.