November 9, 2004

Argentina's 2004-05 Soy 15.6% Planted as of Saturday
 
Argentine farmers had planted 15.6% of the 2004-05 soybean crop as of Saturday, according to the latest data from the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange.
 
The exchange did not say how the pace of planting compares with that of a year ago, when farmers planted 14.5 million hectares and harvested 32.2 million metric tons of soy.
 
The exchange sees the 2004-05 area at 14.72 million hectares. Around 2,301,850 hectares have already been planted.
 
Around 60% of the planting so far has taken place in eastern Cordoba, center-South Santa Fe, eastern Entre Rios and northern Buenos Aires, the exchange said.
 
Meanwhile, fresh rain broke a long dry spell in Salta, Tucuman and northeastern parts of Argentina, indicating that area could expand in these parts of the country.
 
Neither the exchange nor the Agriculture Secretariat has formally forecast 2004-05 soybean production. The US Department of Agriculture sees Argentina's 2004-05 soy output at 39 million tons.
 
CORN
 
Farmers had also planted 66.2% of the 2004-05 commercial corn crop by Saturday. This figure is up from 54% a year ago.
 
The crop received "very favorable" amounts of rain in recent days, giving the crop a healthy amount of soil moisture. This helped farmers to speed up work on the crop.
 
"Planting is practically done in the main Corn Belt and in Entre Rios, while important progress has been made in northern parts of La Pampa, northeast Buenos Aires and southwestern and southeastern Cordoba," the exchange said.
 
The exchange expects farmers to plant 2.42 million hectares of commercially tradable corn. That is up from 2.23 million hectares a year earlier.
 
As of Saturday, farmers had planted 1,602,830 hectares.

Argentina produced 13.1 million tons of corn in 2003-04, according to the exchange. The USDA has forecast 2004-05 output at 15.5 million tons.