Argentine wheat planting for the 2011/12 season is nearly completed and weather conditions are largely favourable, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said in its weekly crop progress report on Thursday. Seeds have been sown on 96.5 percent of the country's projected 4.6 million-hectare wheat area, marking an advance of 3.3 percentage points over the previous week and a tempo 7.9 points faster than at the same time last year.
"Nationally, in most wheat areas conditions are good for the crop during its vegetative stage," the report said. But it also said more rain was needed in some marginal growing areas so that farmers can finish planting the crop. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts that Argentina will produce 15 million tonnes of 2011/12 wheat, in line with the previous season's crop. Neither the grains exchange nor the government has issued an output forecast.
Farmers often complain about the interventionist policies of President Cristina Fernandez, which include export curbs on wheat and corn. Growers say the export quota system hurts their profits by reducing competition among grains exporters
Rains in northern Argentina, where much of the country's remaining 2010/11 corn is planted, delayed harvesting over the last week, the exchange report said. Argentina - the world's No 2 corn exporter after the United States - is expected to produce 21 million tonnes this season, according to the exchange.
As of Thursday, farmers had gathered 93.8 percent of commercial-use corn, which was planted on 3.2 million hectares, advancing 2.7 percentage points over the previous week but lagging last season's pace by 5.4 points. The exchange said that in northern Argentina, a key sunflower growing region, soil moisture levels are favorable for the recently started 2011/12 crop plantings. Total sunflower area for the season is estimated by the exchange at 1.86 million hectares.
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