November 29, 2005

 

Argentina's 2005-06 soybeans 59 percent planted

 

 

Argentina's farmers had planted 59 percent of the 2005-06 soybean crop by Saturday, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported Monday.

 

That puts the pace of planting up from 50 percent a week ago but down half a percentage point from a year ago at this time, when planted area was much smaller.

 

"Fresh rain favoured the work of farmers," the Exchange said, referring to climatic conditions over the past week.

 

The Exchange expects farmers to plant a record 15.6 million hectares of soy this season, up from 14.67 million hectares a year earlier. As of Saturday, they had sown 9.21 million hectares.

 

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

 

Farmers are planting and producing more soy because it is cheaper to grow than corn and it can be sold for more money in commodities markets.

 

 

Corn

 

Farmers had planted 80.2 percent of corn crop by Saturday, putting the planting pace up from 72.6 percent a week ago but down 3.3 percentage points from a year ago.

 

The Exchange expects farmers to sow 15.2 percent less corn this year as area totals 2.23 million hectares, compared with 2.63 million hectares a year ago.

 

Farmers are planting less mainly because corn is not a very profitable crop given its high production costs and export taxes totalling 20 percent.

 

The 2005-06 area--including corn grown for use as animal feed--will total 2.95 million hectares, according to the Exchange.

 

As of Saturday farmers had sown 1,788,160 hectares, the Exchange said.

 

In 2004-05 Argentina produced a record 19.7 million tonnes, up from 13.1 million tonnes a year earlier. Good weather, improved use of agri-chemicals and better use of seed varieties helped increase yields to record levels in many areas.

 

The average national yield last season was a record 7.58 tonnes/hectare, up from 6.28 tonnes/hectare a year ago.

 

The USDA has forecast Argentina's 2005-06 corn output at 17.3 million tonnes with an average yield of 7.2 tonnes/hectare.

 

Argentines plant corn September through January and harvest it May through August.