December 1, 2008

 

Argentina's farmers had harvested 23 percent of the 2007-08 wheat crop as of Nov. 27, with widely mixed yields, the Agriculture Secretariat said in its weekly crop report Friday (Nov 28).

 

The crop has been hurt by early drought, hail storms and frost, with many fields being turned over to pasture due to the low yields.

 

Yields are varying from 1.8 to 3.2 tonnes per hectare in the important wheat growing region in the south of Buenos Aires province.

 

Farmers in the northern provinces of the farm belt moved fast to harvest the grain over the last week due to the hot, dry weather, the Secretariat said.

 

The harvest pace is nine percentage points ahead of what it was on this date a year ago.

 

The Secretariat forecasts wheat output of 10.1 tonnes, down sharply from the 16 million tonnes grown last season.

 

The Secretariat's report does not reflect the storm that dumped showers across the farm belt Thursday night and Friday morning.

 

Soy planting continues to proceed slowly due to the dry weather that preceded the storm on Thursday night.

 

As of Nov 27, farmers had planted 46 percent of the area seen going to soy, down from 52 percent at this point last year, the Secretariat said.

 

Area is seen at a record 18 million hectares this season.

 

Drought earlier in the year saw wheat area fall sharply and the higher profits with soy relative to corn and sunflower seeds is spurring the shift to soy this season.

  

Corn planting also progressed slowly over the last week due to the dry weather, the Secretariat said.

 

As of Nov 27, farmers had planted 73 percent of the forecast 3.34 million hectares seen going to corn, down from 81 percent at this point last season, according to the Secretariat.

 

Farmers have planted 83 percent of the 2.2 million hectares expected to be sown with sunflower seeds this season, down from 90 percent at this point last year.

 

	Wheat	Soy	Corn	Sunseed
Agriculture Sec't	10.1  MT	18HA	3.34HA	2.2HA
USDA	12 MT	50.5MT	18MT	4.4MT
B.A. Cereals Exch.	10 MT	18.2HA	2.64HA	2.21HA
Rosario Grain Exch.	9.5-10.5MT	N/A	N/A	N/A

 

Argentina's historical production estimates in millions of metric tons, according to the Agriculture Secretariat:

 

　	Wheat	Soy	Corn	Sunseed
Aug-07	16.00	46.20	20.50	4.65
Jul-06	14.60	47.50	21.80	3.50
Jun-05	12.60	40.50	14.50	3.80
May-04	16.00	38.30	20.50	3.70
Apr-03	14.60	31.60	15.00	3.10
Mar-02	12.30	35.00	14.70	3.40