December 5, 2005

 

Argentina's 2005-06 soybean crop 64 percent planted

 

 

Argentina's farmers had planted 64 percent of the 2005-06 soybean crop by Thursday, the Agriculture Secretariat said Friday.

 

That puts the planting pace up from 56 percent a week ago but down slightly from 67 percent a year ago. The annual pace is basically in line with that of the previous year even though area is up more than a million hectares from last season.

 

Soybeans now account for about half of the planted area for all of Argentina's grain and oilseed crops, according to the Secretariat. Area has expanded rapidly in recent years because of soy's low production costs and high sales value in commodities markets.

 

Planted area is forecast at a record 15.11 million hectares in 2005-06, up from 14.4 million hectares previously. As of Thursday farmers had sown 9,716,510 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 tonnes a year ago.

 

 

Corn

 

Meanwhile, work was slow last week for corn farmers, who had planted 76 percent of the 2005-06 crop by Thursday, the Secretariat said. That puts the planting pace up from 74 percent a week ago but down from 82 percent a year ago.

 

The annual pace is down even though area is down 8.7 percent this season.

 

Unfavourable weather is mainly responsible for the slower planting pace while low prices and high production costs are responsible for the decrease in area.

 

The Secretariat sees area at 3.055 million hectares, down from 3.348 million hectares a year earlier.

 

As of Thursday farmers had planted 2,330,935 hectares.

 

Low corn prices, rising input and planting costs, a 20 percent export tax and a long drought have led many farmers to plant less this season.

 

The USDA has forecast Argentina's 2005-06 corn production at 17.5 million tonnes, down from 19.5 million tonnes in 2004-05.

 

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

 

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