October 19, 2004

Argentina's 2004-05 Corn Crop 30% Planted By Friday

As of Friday, Argentina's farmers had planted 30% of the 2004 - 05 corn crop, the Agriculture Secretariat reported Monday.

This puts the pace of planting down 11 percentage points from a year ago, when farmers had planted 41% of the crop.

The Secretariat expects planted area to reach 3.08 million hectares, up from 2.8 million a year ago. Last year Argentina produced 12.6 million tons of corn, according to the Secretariat.

Fresh rain in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Cordoba allowed farmers to renew work that had been delayed for weeks because of a lack of moisture, the Secretariat said.

As of Friday, farmers had planted 930,667 hectares of corn.

Meanwhile, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange, which also provides planting estimates, reported earlier Monday that farmers had planted 33.7% of the corn crop as of Saturday, compared with 34.5% a year ago at this time.

Argentina produced 13.1 million tons of corn in 2003-04, according to the exchange. The Secretariat has estimated output at 13 million tons. The US Department of Agriculture has forecast 2004-05 Argentine output at 15.5 million tons.