December 19, 2005
Argentina's 2005-06 soybeans 78 percent planted
Argentina's farmers had planted 78 percent of the 2005-06 soybean crop by Thursday, the Agriculture Secretariat said Friday.
That puts the planting pace up from 70 percent a week ago, but down from 82 percent a year earlier.
Area is up about 700,000 hectares from last season, indicating that farmers are making rapid progress on the planting of the 2005-06 crop even though the pace is technically down from the previous year.
Area is forecast at a record 15.11 million hectares this season, up from 14.4 million hectares previously. As of Thursday, farmers had sown 11,725,290 hectares of soybeans.
The Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange has estimated planted area at 15.6 million hectares, up from 14.67 million hectares 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, corn farmers had sown 83 percent of the 2005-06 crop by Thursday, lifting the planting pace from 79 percent a week ago.
The pace is down from 89 percent a year earlier, mainly because climatic conditions this year have been much drier than they were a year ago. The annual pace is slower now even though area is down 8.7 percent from a year earlier.
Poor weather is responsible for the slower planting pace, while low prices and high production costs are responsible for the decrease in area.
Buenos Aires is home to more than a quarter of Argentina's corn production.
The Secretariat sees area at 3.055 million hectares, down from 3.348 million hectares a year earlier.
As of Thursday, farmers had planted 2,537,180 hectares.
The USDA has forecast Argentina's 2005-06 corn production at 17.3 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.
