Argentina made little progress in 2008-09 corn planting as farmers continued to hold off in hopes of badly needed rainfall, the Agriculture Secretariat said on Friday (September 19, 2008) in its weekly crop report.
Planting has started in Cordoba, Entre Rios and Santa Fe provinces, but soil moisture levels are too low for widespread planting, the Secretariat said.
The Secretariat forecasts total wheat area of 3.5 million hectares, down more than 10 percent from last year.
Corn area is expected to fall as relatively high input costs and export limits imposed by the government will spur a shift to soy and sunflower seeds, according to analysts.
Last week, the USDA sharply lowered its forecast for Argentina's 2008-09 corn output to 19 million tonnes, down 3 million tonnes from last month's forecast.
Sunflower Seeds
Sunseed planting advanced just one percentage point due to continued dry weather, according to the report.
Farmers have planted 11 percent of the area expected to be sown with sunflower seeds this season, one percentage point ahead of the planting pace last year.
Sunflower seed area is seen totalling 2.5 million hectares this season, according to the Secretariat.
Wheat
Argentina's 2008-09 wheat planting is finished, with almost 4.6 million hectares sown, but the young crop continues to struggle due to dry weather.
The USDA had earlier lowered its production forecast for Argentina's 2008-09 wheat crop by 1 million tonnes to 12.5 million tonnes.
Soy
Argentina hasn't started 2008-09 soy planting, but the area going to be seeded is expected to rise sharply this season as soy takes up the slack from decreased wheat and corn area.
The USDA had earlier raised its forecast for new-crop soy production by 1 million tonnes to a record 50.5 million tonnes.