Harvesting completed in Argentina's top soya area

Harvesting of the 2010/11 soya crop in Argentina's top producing province of Buenos Aires reached completion over the last week, the Agriculture Ministry said in its weekly grains report released on Friday. Argentina is the world's No 1 soyameal and soyaoil exporter, as well as its third-biggest soyabean supplier. The government on Thursday cut its estimate for the 2010/11 soya harvest to 49.6 million tonnes, from 50.4 million tonnes previously.
The government report said that over the last seven days soya farmers finished harvesting in the province of Buenos Aires, where nearly a third of the country's soya is planted. Countrywide, Argentina has 18.7 million hectares (46.2 million acres) planted with the oilseed.
In Avellaneda, north-east Santa Fe province, "harvesting work continues where soil conditions permit", the report said. Crop collection has slowed in some areas of Argentina due to heavy rains that can curb the movement of harvesting machines. Santa Fe is Argentina's third-biggest soya-producing province. Through Thursday, farmers had collected 98 percent of Argentina's 2010/11 soya area, marking an advance of 1 percentage point from the previous week. The rate of collection lagged last year's by 1 percentage point, the report said.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) foresees 2010/11 Argentine soya output of 49.5 million tonnes. The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange sees the country's soya harvest at 49.2 million tonnes. Argentina is the world's No 2 corn supplier behind the United States, and a leading producer of wheat.
The Agriculture Ministry on Thursday raised its outlook for 2010/11 corn output to 21.6 million tonnes from 20.9 million tonnes last month. Friday's report said gathering of corn in some areas had been slowed by rain. The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange expects 20.0 million tonnes of corn to be harvested in the 2010/11 crop, below the USDA's outlook of 22.0 million tonnes.
The report said farmers had collected 86 percent of the 4.32 million hectares planted with corn, a 2 percentage point advance over the previous week and a rate 1 percentage point faster than that of the previous season's harvest. Plantings of 2011/12 wheat continued over the last week, although some areas need rain for seedings to advance faster, the report said.
The government expects 4.7 million hectares to be planted with 2011/12 wheat, while the Buenos Aires exchange foresees that farmers will seed 4.95 million hectares. More than 38 percent of the area expected to produce wheat in Argentina during the 2011/12 season has been sown, marking a 20-percentage-point increase over the rhythm of planting last season, the Buenos Aires exchange said on Thursday.