Argentina's 2011-12 corn area is estimated at 3.5 million hectares, up 9 percent from the previous crop season, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Thursday in its first plantings forecast. The South American country is the world's No 2 corn exporter after the United States and farmers produced a bumper crop of 21 million tonnes in the current 2010/11 crop year. Farmers have virtually finished the harvest.
"Farmers have plans to sow more," the report said. "In the northern and southern crop belt, many growers have been planning for weeks now to plant 12 percent and 16 percent more corn respectively," the report said. However, dry conditions in other regions have reduced initial enthusiasm for planting the cereal, the exchange added. The previous year's planting area was 3.2 million hectares.
Neither the exchange nor the Agriculture Ministry have forecast new season corn production, but the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts a harvest of 26 million tonnes, up from an estimated 22 million years for the current harvest. Higher global prices are expected to motivate farmers to plant more this year after dry conditions linked to the La Nina weather phenomenon hurt yields in the 2010/11 season. If the weather remains normal, the 2011/12 corn harvest could reach record highs.
US-based seed giant Monsanto is betting that corn output in Argentina will grow strongly over the five years ahead as world food demand increases. Growers in Argentina finished sowing 2011/12 wheat in recent days, with a few final fields being planted in south-eastern parts of Buenos Aires province. The province accounts for about half of total Argentine wheat output, which the USDA expects to fall to 13.5 million tonnes from 15 million tonnes in the previous campaign. Rosario grains exchange expects production of 12.5 million tonnes.
Days of frosts have affected many farming areas, but the exchange said they should not cause serious problems for crops due to their current stage of development. A prolonged dry spell is causing to deplete soil moisture reserves in some central areas, the report added.