August 17, 2007

 

Argentina 2007/08 corn area at 3.9 million hectares

 

 

Argentina will plant 3.9 million hectares with corn in 2007/08, up 9 percent from the 3.57 hectares planted with corn in 2006/07, the Agriculture Secretariat said in its monthly crop report Thursday (August 16).

 

Sunseed planting in 2007/08 is seen at 2.6 to 2.7 million hectares, up from the 2.447 million hectares planted last season.

 

The Secretariat also slightly trimmed its area forecast for 2007/08 wheat planting to 5.5 million hectares from the 5.55 million hectares seen last month.

 

The Secretariat trimmed its wheat forecast due to dry weather in the southern areas of Buenos Aires and La Pampa provinces and the northern provinces of Chaco, Tucuman and Santiago del Estero, which caused some farmers to abandon plans to plant wheat, the Secretariat said.

 

Crop conditions are generally favourable, although dryness in the centre and north of La Pampa and Cordoba provinces may cut yields in those areas.

 

Farmers have planted 92 percent of the 2007/08 wheat crop to date, in line with last year's pace, according to the Secretariat.

  

Significant increases in sunseed planting in Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Cordoba provinces will spur the 6 to 10 percent gains in area this season compared with 2006/07, the Secretariat said.

 

Farmers have harvested 95 percent of the 2006/07 corn crop to date, with very high yields spurring record production of 22 million tonnes. The forecast was unchanged from last month.

 

Estimates for Argentina's 2007-08 crop production in million hectares (HA) or million tonnes (MT)

 

	Wheat	Soy	Corn	Sunseed
Agriculture Secretariat	5.55HA	n/a	n/a	n/a
USDA	14MT	47MT	24MT	4.1MT
BA Cereals Exchange	5.4HA	n/a	3.4-3.6HA	2.6HA
Agropuerto SA	14MT	45MT	25.5MT	4.5MT
AgriPac Consultores	16MT	48.2MT	25MT	4.6MT
Panagricola SA	5.4HA	n/a	n/a	n/a

 

Argentina's historical production estimates in million tonnes, according to the Agriculture Secretariat