October 18, 2007

 

Argentina to expand corn and soy acreage for 2007/08

 

 

Argentina, the world's third-largest soy exporter put its first forecast for the 2007/08 soy area at a record 16.5 million hectares, slightly higher than the previous year, the Agriculture Secretariat said on Wednesday (October 17, 2007).

 

Areas that were not used for wheat and better economic prospects has led the government to forecast a 2.2 percent increase in soy acreage, the department said in its monthly crop forecast report.

Argentina produced a record soy crop of 47.6 million tonnes for 2006/07.

 

High global prices for the oilseed would encourage farmers to dedicate more land to soy this season, the report said. Planting is slated to start next month.

 

Harvests have steadily grown in recent years and experts expect annual output to reach 50 million tonnes soon.

 

Although soy acreage has been expanded, the USDA does not expect the soy crop to exceed this year's levels. It forecastedArgentina's 2007/08 soy crop at 47 million tonnes.

 

The country, one of the five largest wheat producers in the world, also made its first estimate for 2007/08 wheat production, seeing a harvest of between 14.5 million and 15.3 million tonnes compared with 2006/07 output of 14.6 million tonnes.

 

The USDA predicts a wheat harvest of 14.5 million tonnes this season in Argentina.

 

Meanwhile, Argentina slightly raised its forecast for the 2007/08 corn area to 4 million hectares, compared with 3.95 million hectares a month ago.

 

Argentina, the world's second-biggest corn exporter, produced a record 21.8 million tonnes of corn in the last harvest, according to government figures.

 

The USDA expects Argentine production this season of 22.5 million tonnes.

 

The report expects sunflower acreage for 2007/08 to be 6 percent higher than a year ago. The harvest last year was 3.6 million tonnes, planted on an area of 2.45 million hectares.