September 21, 2006

 

Argentina's wheat area down on drought; corn up

 

 

Argentine farmers planted 5.3 million hectares with wheat for the 2006/07 crop cycle, the Agriculture Secretariat reported Wednesday (Sep 20).

 

That puts the forecast down from 5.4 million hectares a month ago and down from 5.5 million hectares forecast the previous month. The new forecast is provisional, as adverse weather conditions are complicating the new crop, the Secretariat said.

 

Drought conditions prevented farmers from seeding a significant part of the area originally planned for wheat, particularly in the southwest of Buenos Aires province and in La Plata province, the secretariat said.

 

The forecast puts area up 1.7 percent from last year, when farmers produced 12.5 million tonnes of wheat.

 

There are also concerns that continuing drought will affect yields in the young crop.

 

"The lack of moisture is affecting the crops planted in the center and north of La Pampa Province and the greater part of Cordoba Province, which, if it does not change, will lead to declines in yield per hectare," the Secretariat said.

 

About 30 percent of the 2006/07 wheat crop is suffering from insufficient moisture, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported on Monday. Just over half of the crop is in good, or very good condition, the Exchange said.

 

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

 

The US Department of Agriculture forecasts that Argentina will produce 13.25 million tonnes of wheat in 2006/07. Private analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires see production at 12.27-12.6 million tonnes.

 

Argentina produced 12.6 million tonnes of wheat in 2005/06, according to the secretariat.

 

 

Corn

 

Argentina will plant an estimated 3.3 million hectares with corn during the 2006/07 crop cycle, up 3.8 percent from 3.18 million in 2005/06, the Secretariat said.

 

Drought was also slowing planting progress in the new corn crop, the Secretariat said.

 

As of last Friday, 5.2 percent of the 2006/07 corn crop had been planted, an advance from 2.4 percent a week earlier, according to the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange. The pace of planting is down 1 point from the same time a year ago.

 

The USDA sees Argentina's 2006/07 corn production at 17.5 million tonnes, while private analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires see production at 17.78 million tonnes.

 

The Secretariat left unchanged its estimate of 2005/06 corn production at 14.5 million tonnes, down 29.3 percent from the record 20.5 million tonnes produced from the previous crop.