January 1, 2008

Scant rains troubling some Argentina's soy zones

Rains are still lacking in some soy areas in Argentina-- the third biggest world soy producer-- although downpours on part of the central farm belt gave some respite, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said in its weekly report.

As of Friday (December 28), farmers had already planted 84.5 percent of the 16.8 million hectares forecast for 2007/08 soy, up from 77 percent a week earlier, and 3.6 percentage points behind the same date last year.

The exchange's report said that Argentina has still some problem areas as it still "needs more rain to stop damages that could harm crop yields."

Rains were centred in northeast Santa Fe, Chaco and in San Luis while the rest of the centre-north had just occasional rainfall to improve crops that are already entering the productive phase, the report said.

In Buenos Aires province, early soy was most in need of moisture.

On the other hand, sunseed planting concluded last week, covering 2.7 million hectares, up 13.2 percent from the 2.38 million hectares planted in the previous cycle, according to the report.

The government estimates that the 2006/07 sunseed cycle produced 3.5 million tonnes.