Argentine farmers are expected to harvest 39.5 million tonnes of soya and 32 million tonnes of corn in the 2017-18 season the Buenos Aires grains exchange said on Thursday, down from prior estimates of 42 million and 34 million tonnes, respectively.
The estimates marked the latest in a string of reductions to harvest forecasts due to a prolonged drought in the country's agricultural belt. While rains last weekend were expected to provide some relief, this year's soya crop will likely be much smaller than initial estimates for around 55 million tonnes. Later on Thursday, Argentina's Agriculture Ministry reduced its estimate for planted corn area to 8.9 million hectares from its previous estimate of 9 million hectares. It reduced its estimate for commercial use corn area to 6.3 million hectares from last month's estimate of 6.5 million hectares. "The area that cannot be harvested has increased due to the poor state of the fields that have suffered from a lack of moisture," the ministry said in its report.
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