November 14, 2005

 

Argentina's 2005-06 soybean crop 39 percent planted

 

 

Argentine farmers made swift progress again this week while planting the 2005-06 soybean crop, the Agriculture Secretariat reported Friday.

 

As of Thursday, growers had planted 39 percent of the 2005-06 crop, putting the planting pace up from 21 percent a week ago and up from 36 percent a year ago. The pace is up even though the Secretariat expects farmers to plant around 1 million hectares more than they did a year ago.

 

The Secretariat sees planted area at a record 15.12 million hectares, compared with 14.4 million a year earlier.

 

As of Thursday, farmers had sown 5,824,850 hectares of soybeans.

 

The Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange has estimated planted area at 15.6 million hectares, up from 14.67 million a year earlier.

 

The USDA has forecast Argentina's 2005-06 soybean output at a record 40.5 million tonnes, up from the previous record of 39 million a year ago.

 

 

Corn

 

Meanwhile, farmers had planted 68 percent of the 2005-06 corn crop by Thursday, up from 62 percent a week ago. The pace is down from 75 percent a year ago even though area is down 8.7 percent this season.

 

The Secretariat sees area at 3.057 million hectares, down from 3.348 million a year earlier.

 

Low corn prices, high input and planting costs, a 20 percent export tax and recent dry weather have led many farmers to plant less this season.

 

As of Thursday, farmers had planted 2,064,036 hectares.

 

"Most of the crop is emerged and has 4-6 leaves...," the Secretariat said, referring to corn in the province of Buenos Aires. "There don't appear to be any sanitary problems."

 

Buenos Aires is home to almost 27 percent of Argentina's planted corn.

 

The USDA has forecast Argentina's 2005-06 corn production at 18 million tonnes, down from 19.5 million in 2004-05.

 

The Exchange has estimated planted area this season at 2.23 million hectares, compared with 2.63 million a year earlier.

 

The Exchange's estimate does not include corn grown strictly for use as animal feed.