November 19, 2010

Argentina soy sowing halted amid lack of rains

Soy farmers in Argentina, the world's third-largest producer, interrupted sowing in the country's main growing areas after a shortage of rain.

The lack of downpours in central Argentina led farmers to cease planting in the past week, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said. About 41% of the crop for harvest next year has been planted, compared with 44.2% in the same period a year earlier.

Planting will drop to 18.7 million hectares (46.2 million acres) in the current season, from 19 million in the prior planting period, when farmers harvested a record 55 million tonnes, the exchange said. Harvesting usually starts in March.

La Nina, a weather event that forms in the Pacific, is forecast to bring drought to Argentina in the summer months of December through February, when soy plants start to flower in the center of the country.

The US and Brazil are the second and third biggest growers of the oilseed, respectively.

The exchange increased its wheat forecast by 600,000 tonnes, to 12.7 million tonnes because of rain in the southern part of Buenos Aires province, the main producing area. Harvesting starts in December. Last year the wheat crop was 7.47 million tonnes.