April 7, 2004

Argentina's 2003-04 Soybean Crop 22.4% Collected
 
Farmers in Argentina had collected 22.4% of the 2003-04 soybean crop by Saturday, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported Tuesday.
 
The pace of collection is down a bit from a year ago at this time, when farmers had harvested 23.2% of the crop.
 
However, last year's crop measured in at 12.8 million hectares of planted soybeans while this year's planted area stands at 14.4 million hectares, according to the exchange.
 
As of Saturday, farmers had harvested 3.2 million hectares of soybeans, which puts production thus far at 7.83 million metric tons.
 
"The dry climate last week accelerated the maturation of the crops, which sped up the harvest in the main soybean region," the exchange said.
 
The average yield last week was 2.44 tons per hectare, up from 2.41 a week ago. Still, yields are down almost 20% from 3.04 tons a year ago.
 
"This goes to show how much influence the spring drought had on most of the crop in the Pampas region," the exchange said, referring to Argentina's primary soybean producing region.
 
The exchange has said recently that because yields vary so much across the nation, it's too difficult to forecast 2003-04 production.
 
However, last month the exchange estimated production for this year at around 34.5 million tons. This would put output down slightly from 35.27 million in 2002-03.
 
The USDA estimates 2003-04 soybean production at 36.5 million tons.
 
Many local analysts believe the crop will not surpass 34 million tons this year.