August 7, 2006

Argentina harvests 99 percent of 2005/06 corn crop

Argentina's farmers completed 99 percent of the 2005/06 corn harvest as of Thursday, the Agriculture Secretariat reported Friday (Aug 4).

The pace is unchanged from a year ago, when area was bigger.

As of Thursday, farmers had harvested 2,397,690 hectares.

Planted area totals 3.165 million hectares compared with 3.4 million a year earlier. This includes corn grown exclusively for use as animal feed.

According to the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange, farmers had collected all of 2.26 million hectares by Jul 21.

The Exchange's estimate doesn't include corn planted for use as animal feed. The average yield was 6.54 tonnes per hectare, putting production so far at 14.4 million tonnes, according to the Exchange.

The Secretariat has forecast corn production this season at 14 million tonnes, down from 20 million a year ago, when excellent weather lifted yields to record levels.

The Exchange has forecast Argentine corn production at 14.4 million tonnes while the USDA has put local output at 14 million tonnes.