July 25, 2006

 

Argentina's 2006/07 wheat crop 79 percent planted

 

 

Argentine farmers had planted 79 percent of the 2006/07 wheat crop by Thursday (Jul 20), the Agriculture Secretariat reported Monday.

 

That puts the planting pace up from 72 percent a week ago and up from 74 percent a year ago.

 

The Secretariat has forecast planted area at 5.486 million hectares, up from 5.2 million a year earlier.

 

"A lack of rain in key production zones is increasing uncertainty about how big the planted area will finally be," the Secretariat said.

 

According to the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange, farmers had planted 76 percent of the 2006/07 wheat crop by Jul 21.

 

So far, farmers have planted 4,324,630 hectares, according to the Secretariat.

 

The Exchange expects planted area to total 5.45 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.

 

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

 

The Secretariat has not released a formal forecast for 2006/07 wheat production.