May 2, 2006

 

Argentina's 2005/06 soybean crop 63 percent collected

 

 

Argentina's farmers had harvested 63 percent of the 2005/06 soybean crop by Thursday, the Agriculture Secretariat reported over the weekend (Apr 29).

 

That collection pace is up from 12 percentage points from the previous week but down one point from a year ago.

 

Farmers are progressing relatively rapidly since area is up almost 800,000 hectares from a year earlier. Planted area totals 15.182 million hectares, down from 14.4 million a year ago.

 

As of Thursday, farmers had collected 9,502,770 hectares.

 

According to the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange, the average yield last week was 2.7 tonnes per hectare, in line with the previous week. By Saturday, farmers had harvested 67.7 percent of 15.62 million hectares and produced 28.248 million tonnes of soy, according to the exchange. If yields continue at this level, it said in its latest report that production could surpass its current estimate of 40.4 million tonnes and reach 40.7 million tonnes

 

The exchange has estimated planted area totals 15.62 million hectares, up from 14.67 million a year earlier.

 

On Apr 20, the Secretariat raised its production estimate for the 2005/06 soy harvest to a new record of 40 million tonnes, up from a previous forecast of 39.5 million tonnes. Last year farmers produced a record 38.3 million tonnes of soy, according to the Secretariat.

 

The US Department of Agriculture sees Argentina's 2005/06 soybean production at 40.5 million tonnes.

 

 

Corn

 

Farmers also had harvested 44 percent of the 2005/06 corn crop by Thursday, up from 34 percent a week earlier.

 

The collection pace is down from 61 percent a year earlier, when area was bigger. Unfavourable climate conditions and rain have slowed the work of farmers this season and lowered yields.

 

As of Thursday farmers had harvested 1,100,540 hectares.

 

Planted area totals 3.048 million hectares, compared with 3.348 million hectares a year earlier. These figures include area dedicated to corn grown exclusively for use as animal feed.

 

According to the exchange, farmers had harvested 48.1 percent of 2.26 million hectares by Saturday. The exchange's estimate does not include corn planted for use as animal feed.

 

The average yield last week was 6.37 tonnes per hectare, up from 6.32 tonnes a week earlier. That put production so far at 6.749 million tonnes, according to the exchange.

 

The improvement in yields led the exchange in its latest report to raise its production forecast to 14.4 million tonnes of corn from 14 million.

 

On Apr 20, the Secretariat raised its forecast for 2005/06 corn production to 14 million tonnes from a previous estimate of 13.9 million tonnes. That's down from the production of 20.5 million tonnes a year ago, when favourable weather helped boost yields to record levels.

 

The USDA has put local output at 15.5 million tonnes.