December 21, 2006

Argentina to plant record area with soy

Argentina's farmers will plant 16 million hectares with soy during the 2006/07 crop cycle, a new record, the Agriculture Secretariat reported Wednesday. Last month, the Secretariat had forecast 15.9 million hectares being planted with soybeans.

Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires see soy production of between 41 and 45 million metric tonnes, while the USDA forecasts production of 42 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, the Secretariat upped its estimate for 2006/07 wheat production to 13.7 million tonnes. Last month, the Secretariat had forecast 13.6 million tonnes of wheat.

The 2006/07 wheat crop benefited from steady rains which began to fall in the middle of October, the Secretariat said. Early drought had led to fears of decreased output.

Corn area was forecast at 3.45 million hectares, compared with 3.4 million hectares forecast last month. High corn prices have led farmers to plant 8.4 percent more area with corn this year compared to 2005, the Secretariat said.

 Estimates for Argentina's 2006/07 crop production in millions of tonnes:

*Rogelio Ponton is the Director of Economic Studies at the Rosario Grain Exchange, Ricardo Baccarin is the Chief Analyst at Panagricola, Adrian Seltzer is the Chief Analyst at Granar S.A. and Pablo Adreani is an analyst at AgriPac Consultores.