December 13, 2005

 

Argentina's 2005-06 soybean crop 74.5 percent planted

 

 

Argentine farmers had planted 74.5 percent of the 2005-06 soybean crop by Saturday, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported Monday.

 

That puts the pace of planting up from 66.5 percent a week ago and up two percentage points from a year ago at this time, when planted area was much smaller.

 

Better weather helped farmers to pick up the pace of planting for second-crop soybeans, the Exchange said, noting that fresh rain slowed the pace somewhat.

 

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 11.62 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

 

Meanwhile, farmers had planted 84.4 percent of crop by Saturday, putting the planting pace up from 82 percent a week ago but down seven percentage points from a year ago.

 

"The lack of moisture continues to slow the planting of crops in center-south La Pampa, southeast Buenos Aires and in some parts of northern Cordoba...," the Exchange said. "The opposite situation is occurring in northern provinces because of excess moisture. Because of that, planting is down seven 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 of corn is not a very profitable crop given high production costs and export taxes totalling 20 percent.

 

The 2005-06 area, including corn grown for use as animal feed, will total 2.85 million hectares, the Exchange said, reducing its estimate from 2.95 million hectares a week ago.

 

As of Saturday farmers had sown 1.882 million 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 6.28tonnes/hectare a year ago.

 

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

 

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