October 26, 2009

Argentina's soy producers are likely to accelerate sales of their next crop as they seek cash to repay loans, said an official of a farm association.

Growers will sell most of their crop in May, compared with sales spread along the four months through August that was usual in past seasons, said Julio Curras, vice president of the Argentine Agrarian Federation.

About 60 percent of small and medium-sized farmers took loans to fund sowing this year, compared with a usual rate of 40 percent, due to the drought which had bled growers dry, said Curras.

Many growers are short of cash after having lost most of the 2009 crop to drought, and farmers who had taken loans this year will be pressed to pay back as soon as they start harvesting, Curras said.

Next year, growers are set to reap a record crop of as much as 53 million tonnes as rains over drought-stressed soy farms since early September restore moisture levels in time for planting, Rodolfo Rossi, president of Argentina's soy producers association, said October 13.

Argentina soy growers started sowing this month and will continue until mid-December. Harvesting begins in February, peaks in May and runs through June.