Argentina's soya crop is seen stable at 47 million tonnes after widespread rains, but with the key yield-setting stages ahead, soyabean fields remain at risk, Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Thursday. Two weeks of heavy rains have brought new life to soya crops in parts of Buenos Aires province, the top soya growing region, which could ease fears that the La Nina-triggered dryness will cripple Argentina's soya output.
"The rains continued and this time they fell on north-western regions, and most of the central part of the farming belt," the exchange said in its weekly crop report. The rains brought relief to early planted soya, and should fuel growth in late-season plantings, which were in dire straits due to weeks of dryness.
However, the rainfall was uneven in parts of Cordoba, Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Buenos Aires, the exchange said, and yields in plots that did not get plenty of rain may still suffer because they have to go through crucial growing stages. By Thursday, farmers had sowed 99.6 percent of the 18.5 million hectares earmarked for this season's soya, advancing 1.6 percentage points from last week.
The US Department of Agriculture cut its estimate for 2010/11 Argentine soya output earlier this month to 50.5 million tonnes from 52 million tonnes. The exchange forecast more rain for most of the farming belt in the short term, but warned that high temperatures are likely, which would lead to high evaporation rates. The rains did not bring much relief to corn crops in the world's No 2 exporter of the grain after the United States, the exchange said. "In the northern part of the farming belt, the outlook for the crop is far from ideal ... because the soils are really dry, which means the yields of some plots will be between 30 and 50 percent smaller," the exchange stated.
By Thursday, farmers had planted 99.2 percent of the 3.15 million hectares estimated for commercial-use corn this season, up 2 percentage points from last week. USDA has lowered its forecast for Argentina's corn crop to 23.5 million tonnes from 25 million previously.
Wheat growers in Argentina have enjoyed favourable weather through most of the 2010/11 season and have completed the harvest, the report said, adding that several regions have seen record-high yields this season. "In the south-east of Buenos Aires, a wheat hub which has 24.5 percent of the total area planted in the country, yields were 42.4 percent higher than in the previous season," the exchange stated.