November 21, 2005

 

Argentina's 2005-06 soybean crop 46 percent planted

 

 

Argentine farmers had planted 46 percent of the 2005-06 soybean crop by Thursday, Agriculture Secretariat data released Friday showed.

 

That puts the planting pace up from 38 percent a week ago but down from 47 percent a year ago.

 

The Secretariat expects farmers to plant one million hectares more than they did a year ago.

 

Planted area is forecast to hit a record 15.11 million hectares, up from 14.4 million hectares previously. As of Thursday, farmers had sown 6,992,890 hectares of soybeans.

 

The Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange has estimated planted area at 15.6 million hectares, up from the 14.67 million hectares a year earlier.

 

The USDA has forecast Argentina's 2005-06 soybean output at a record 40.5 million tonnes, up from the previous record of 39 million tonnes a year ago.

 

 

Corn

 

Meanwhile, farmers had planted 70 percent of the 2005-06 corn crop by Thursday, up from 67 percent a week ago. The pace is down from 77 percent a year ago even though area is down 8.7 percent this season.

 

The Secretariat sees area at 3.055 million hectares, down from 3.348 million hectares a year earlier.

 

A mixture of low corn prices, high input and planting costs, a 20-percent export tax and recent dry weather have led many farmers to plant less this season.

 

As of Thursday farmers had planted 2,149,094 hectares.

 

The crop is developing well in most areas, particularly in parts of Santa Fe, where rain this week was good for growth, the Secretariat said.

 

The USDA has forecast Argentina's 2005-06 corn production at 17.5 million tonnes, down from the 19.5 million tones in 2004-05.

 

The exchange has estimated planted area this season at 2.23 million hectares, compared with 2.63 million hectares a year earlier.

 

The exchange's estimate does not include corn grown strictly for use as animal feed.