Rains in Argentina's central Pampas farm belt on Friday provided relief to the parched soya and corn crops after weeks of drought prompted reduction in harvest estimates, said Eduardo Sierra, a climate expert at the Buenos Aires grains exchange. "The rains are modest, but they arrived just in time to limit the damage," Sierra said by phone, adding that the rains had hit Cordoba province, southern Santa Fe province, and northern Buenos Aires province - the core growing areas of the world's No. 3 exporter of corn and raw soyabeans.
Dry weather had previously prompted the exchange to slash its estimates for the 2017/18 soya and corn crops to 50 million tonnes and 39 million tonnes, respectively. The drought prompted spikes in grains futures prices on the Chicago Board of Trade, where soyabean futures hit two-week highs on Thursday.
While climate experts say more rains are expected beginning mid-February, some believe those rains will not be enough to reverse the damage of the drought. Argentina is the world's No. 1 exporter of soyabean oil and soya meal.
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