Argentina's early-planted soya nearly gathered

Argentine farmers have nearly finished gathering early-seeded 2010/11 soya but yields are uneven due to extreme dryness earlier in the season, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday in its weekly crop report. The ministry estimates this season's crop at 50.4 million tonnes in the world's No 3 supplier of soyabeans and the top exporter of soyaoil and soyameal.
Dry weather late last year cut into soya output forecasts for Argentina. Although heavy rains in January and February improved the outlook, parched conditions caused problems again in March and early-seeded lots were affected. This week, "favourable weather helped pick up the gathering pace of early-planted beans in Tandil with 86 percent of the crop harvested and varied yields," the government report said.
Tandil is a district in the south of Buenos Aires province, Argentina's biggest-soya producing area. Farmers were beginning to gather late-planted soya in some regions and crop yields are also seen as being uneven due to hot weather that worsened the dryness in March.
By Thursday, growers had gathered 67 percent of the estimated area of 18.7 million hectares (46 million acres), up 15 percentage points from the prior week and 1 point more than last season's pace. The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange estimates soya output at 49.2 million tonnes, while the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts Argentina's soya crop at 49.5 million tonnes.
The South American country is also the No 2 corn provider after the United States and farmers are bringing in the 2010/11 crop, which the ministry forecasts at 20.9 million tonnes. Gathering of this season's corn crop picked up speed as farmers, who had made soya harvesting the priority, were nearly done bringing in soya in some areas, the government report said.
By Thursday, farmers had brought in corn from 56 percent of harvestable lands, advancing 6 points from the previous week but lagging 1 point behind last season's harvest pace. The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange sees Argentine corn output at 20 million tonnes while the USDA foresees a crop of 22 million tonnes. Argentine farmers have gathered 99 percent of the sunseed crop, which is expected to come in at 3.6 million tonnes.