November 23, 2004

 

 

Argentina's 04-05 Soy Crop 52% Planted as of Saturday

 

Argentine farmers had planted 51.5% of the 2004-05 soybean crop by Saturday, according to the latest data from the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange.

 

The pace of planting is up from 30% a week ago. The exchange did not say how that planting pace compared with a year ago, when farmers had planted 14.5 million hectares. In 2003-04, farmers harvested 32.2 million metric tons of soy, according to the exchange.

 

The exchange sees the 2004-05 area at 14.7 million hectares. So far some 7,576,000 hectares have been planted.

 

Abundant rain helped farmers to plant more last week, the exchange said. Moreover, soil moisture levels have improved in recent weeks.

 

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

 

Meanwhile, farmers had also planted 80% of the 2004-05 commercial corn crop by Saturday. No data was immediately available to compare the pace of planting with that of a year ago.

 

The exchange sees planted area of commercially tradable corn at 2.47 million hectares, up from 2.23 million a year earlier.

 

Planting is done in most of the main corn region in eastern Cordoba, center-south Santa Fe, Entre Rios and northern Buenos Aires, the exchange said.

 

Prior to last week, the condition of the crop in these areas had been disparate. However, last week's rain helped to balance things out and the crop is now in roughly the same shape across the corn belt.

 

As of Saturday, farmers had planted 1,976,630 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.

 

SUNSEED

 

Farmers had also planted 85.5% of the 2004-05 sunseed crop by Saturday, the exchange said. Year-on-year planting data was not available.

 

The exchange raised its estimate for planted area of 2004-05 sunseed to 1.92 million hectares, up from 1.9 million a week ago. Farmers are planting more sunseed than expected in southern Buenos Aires, noted the exchange.

 

Last year, area totaled 1.8 million hectares.

 

As of Saturday, some 1,641,900 hectares had been seeded.

 

In 2003-04, Argentina produced 3.24 million tons of sunseed, according to the exchange. The USDA has forecast 2004-05 production at 3.4 million tons.