January 4, 2005

Argentina's 2004-05 Wheat 82% Collected As Of Monday

Argentine farmers had collected 82.1% of the 2004-05 wheat crop as of Monday, in line with the harvesting pace a year ago, according to the latest data from the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange.

The exchange said steady work in the principal wheat growing areas pushed ahead the advance of the harvest on a national scale.

Helping the progress, too, was dry weather - only one storm interrupted collection - high temperatures and a recovery in the supply of diesel fuel. In the previous week, a diesel shortage slowed the harvest by nearly 10 percentage points from the year-earlier period until this past week when supplies returned to normal thanks to increased shipments and a government measure requiring oil companies to satisfy domestic demand before exporting.

The exchange expects greater yields to boost wheat production to 16.35 million metric tons from 13.7 million tons in the 2003-04 season, the exchange said.

The final average yield for 2004-05 wheat will total 2.73 tons per hectare, up from 2.33 tons/hectare in the year-earlier period, the exchange estimated.

As of Monday, farmers had harvested 4.89 million hectares, producing 13.2 million tons.

Planted area totals 6.09 million hectares and around 5.985 million of this will likely be harvested, according to the exchange.

Last year, Argentina planted 5.83 million hectares and produced 13.7 million tons of wheat, according to the exchange.

The US Department of Agriculture has forecast Argentina's 2004-05 wheat output at 15 million tons.