August 17, 2006

 

Argentina 2005/06 soy production up at 40.5 million tonnes

 

 

Argentina produced a record 40.5 million tonnes of soybeans during the 2005/06 crop cycle, up 5.7 percent from the 38.3 million tonnes produced a year earlier, the Agriculture Secretariat reported Wednesday (Aug 16).

 

Last month's report had estimated the 2005/06 soybean crop at 40.2 million tonnes.

 

The area planted increased to 15.3 million hectares, up 6.5 percent from the 14.4 million hectares planted in 2004/05, the Secretariat said in its monthly crop report.

 

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.

 

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

 

 

Corn

 

The Secretariat left unchanged its forecast for 2005/06 corn production at 14.5 million tonnes, down 29.3 percent from the record 20.5 million tonnes produced last year.

 

The harvest is 99 percent complete on the 3.18 million hectares planted in 2005/06 with corn for human and animal consumption.

 

Area planted was down 6.5 percent from a year earlier.

 

Area and output are down because of the lack of rain at the end of December, the Secretariat said.