April 7, 2004

Argentina's 2003-04 Corn 38.5% Collected
 
Farmers in Argentina had collected 38.5% of the 2003-04 corn harvest by Saturday, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange on Tuesday.
 
By this time last year, farmers had collected 45.4% of the harvest.
 
So far, farmers have collected 853,850 hectares, which puts production at 5,850,257 tons.
 
Collectable area stands at 2.215 million hectares and 15,000 hectares have been lost because of damage caused by poor climatic conditions.
 
The average yield last week was 6.85 tons/hectare, down from 7.25 tons a year ago at this time.
 
Based on the average yield so far, the exchange has estimated total production of 12.8 million tons. This would be a decline of 18.6%, or almost 3 million tons, from the previous year, according to exchange data.
 
The USDA has forecast 2003-04 corn production at 12.5 million tons.
 
SUNSEED
 
Finally, farmers had collected 85.4% of the 2003-04 sunseed crop by Saturday.
 
By last year at this time, farmers had collected 76.5 % of the crop.
 
Planted area totals 1.95 million hectares, though only 1.937 million hectares will actually be harvested, the exchange said, citing crop damage.
 
The average yield so far this year is 1.89 tons/hectare, up from 1.69 tons a year ago.
 
Production will total 3.47 million tons, the exchange has estimated.
 
Last year output totaled 3.6 million tons, according to the exchange.