Rains boost Argentine 2011-12 wheat outlook

Heavy rain in Argentina this week helped improve most of the 2011/12 wheat crop, which was badly hurt by dryness last month, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday. The rain, however, came too late to avert yield losses in some wheat areas, the ministry said in its weekly report, adding that new showers in other areas will be needed to guarantee good plant development.
Argentina, a leading global wheat exporter and key supplier to neighbouring Brazil, forecasts lower 2011/12 wheat output of between 11 million and 13 million tonnes, compared with 14.7 million last season, because of the recent dry weather. "Wheat has a very good outlook," the report said about Pergamino district in northern Buenos Aires province, which accounts for more than half of Argentina's wheat production. "Plants have recovered their color and have been lifted at an ideal time thanks to recent rains," the ministry said.
Farmers in the South American country planted the grain on 4.5 million hectares, according to the government. Spread-out showers, "completely changed the outlook for the crop but in some parts arrived too late to avoid yield losses," the report also said about Canada de Gomez in Santa Fe province, the country's second-largest wheat-producing region.
The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange on Thursday, in its first estimate of the crop, said Argentina's 2011/12 wheat harvest could total at least 12.6 million tonnes, down from 15.8 million tonnes last season, The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts Argentina's 2011/12 wheat output at 13.5 million tonnes, down from 15.0 million tonnes last season.
Argentina is also the world's second-largest corn exporter. Showers this week brought fresh moisture to soils in corn-producing areas, boosting 2011/12 corn planting, which has been delayed due to recent dryness, the report said. By Thursday, farmers had planted 32 percent of the 4.9 million hectares forecast to be planted with corn, up 8 percentage points from last week, but lagging 14 percentage points from the previous season's pace.