More than half of Argentina's 2017-18 soya crop has been harvested with yields coming in at an average 2.4 tonnes per hectare, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Thursday, warning that yields will likely fall as harvesting continues. Early-planted soya is 65.5 percent collected while the overall national crop is 54 percent harvested, the exchange said in its weekly report. Due to the effects of the drought that has blighted the Pampas grains belt since November, the exchange said average yields will fall to a final 2 tonnes per hectare.
The excessively hot, dry weather has decreased yields from their average of 2.9 tonnes per hectare over recent years, said the exchange, which kept its crop estimate unchanged at 38 million tonnes. Farmers and analysts have marked down their harvest projections as the drought battered expectations. Argentina farmers had collected 30.9 percent of their 2017-18 corn crops, as of Thursday, with average yields at 7.2 tonnes per hectare, the report said.
"Late planted corn is yielding below initial expectations, especially in the north-center of Cordoba and east-center of Entre Rios provinces," it said. "Under this scenario, we maintain our final commercial-use corn production estimate at 32 million tonnes."