December 31, 2003

 

 

Argentina's 2003-04 Wheat 74% Collected

 

Argentina had finished collecting 74% of the 2003-04 wheat crop as of December. 29, the Agriculture

Secretariat reported Tuesday.

 

This puts the pace of collection up 19 percentage points from a week ago and up 11 points from a year ago.

 

The Secretariat has forecast the 2003-04 area at 6 million hectares, compared with 6.3 million a year ago.

 

The Secretariat has estimated 2003-04 production at 12.4 million metric tons, compared with 12.3 million a year ago. Though area is down, yields are up thanks largely to greater use of fertilizer and other agrichemicals.

 

A total of 4,126,890 hectares have been collected so far, while some 316,700 hectares have been lost because of unusually hot and dry weather.

 

The Secretariat's estimates differed measurably from those provided by the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange, which said that as of Saturday farmers had collected 61.1% of 5.499 million hectares.

 

Around 330,700 hectares of this have been lost because of poor climatic conditions, according to the exchange.

 

The exchange said the average yield so far this year is 2.32 tons per hectare and that production thus far amounts to 7.801 million tons.

 

Based on these yields, the exchange estimated total 2003-04 wheat output at 12.9 million tons, compared with 12.16 million a year ago.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated 2003-04 corn output at 12.5 million tons.