Dryness speeds Argentine soya harvest

BUENOS AIRES: Argentine soy and corn harvesting is being driven by ideal weather conditions but the lack of rain that is helping farmers bring in crops is also contributing to the shallowness of the Parana River, which has begun to dent agricultural exports.

Lack of navigability on the river, which carries about 80% of Argentine grain exports, is “an underestimated problem” for exporters, German Heinzenknecht, a meteorologist at consultancy Applied Climatology, said on Thursday.

The South American grains powerhouse is the world’s No. 3 corn supplier and top exporter of soymeal livestock feed, used to fatten hogs and poultry from Europe to Southeast Asia. “The weather is excellent for advancing the harvest. We expect some rains next week in the eastern farm belt, but nothing that would slow the harvest,” he said.

The Buenos Aires exchange forecasts a 2020/21 soy crop of 43 million tonnes, but that could increase thanks to better than expected yields in Cordoba and Santa Fe provinces, it said. The exchange forecasts a corn harvest of 46 million tonnes.