Argentina soy prices ease as record crop nears harvest

Argentine soy prices lost further ground this week as a bumper crop moved closer to market.

Spot soy traded at ARS820 (US$212) a tonne at the Rosario Grain Exchange Thursday, down from ARS830 a week earlier.

Local and international prices came under pressure due to lower demand for US soy ahead of the upcoming harvest of record crops in South America, the Rosario exchange said.

Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay are set to smash previous soy output records this season, as favourable weather conditions boosted crops.

On Thursday, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange increased its forecast for Argentina's 2009-10 soy production to 53.5 million tonnes, up 1.5 million tonnes from last week's estimate. Output is expected to be up more than 20 million tonnes from last season's drought-battered crop.

Farmers had been worrying that excess rainfall through the harvest season may damage the crops, but the exchange said the latest weather models predicted relatively dry weather through the harvest season.

The first early soy fields were harvested over the past week, according to the exchange.

May 2010 soy futures traded at US$213 and US$215 a tonne, down from US$215 and US$216 a week ago.