July 1, 2011

Argentine rains delay wheat planting

Planting of Argentina's wheat crop, Latin America's largest, was delayed by rains over the past week, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said.

About 2.7 million hectares of the crop have been planted, the exchange said in its weekly crop report sent by e-mail today. The exchange forecasts the crop will cover 4.95 million hectares, up from 4.7 million a year earlier. The bulk of the 2011-12 harvest will occur between December and February.

Argentina was likely the world's fifth-largest exporter of wheat in the year through today, according to estimates by the USDA. The South American nation was the eighth-largest exporter of the grain last year.

Rains also delayed harvesting of the current soy and corn crops, which were planted mostly in the second half of last year and the first months of this year, the exchange said. About 17.2 million tonnes of corn have been harvested from a total estimate of 20 million tonnes, the exchange said. About 200,000 million tonnes of soy remain to be harvested from the estimated crop of 49.2 million tonnes, the exchange said.