Argentina cuts soya crop forecast

Argentina cut its 2003/04 soyabean crop forecast to 32 million tonnes from 33 million tonnes in April due to adverse weather conditions that hurt yields, the government's agriculture department said on Wednesday.
Dry weather throughout the growing cycle affected soyabean yields, as did rains during the harvest period. Output will fall short of last year's record 34.8 million tonnes despite the record-high seeding of 14.2 million hectares.
Last week, the US Department of Agriculture put Argentine soya production at 34 million tonnes, after having predicted in November a harvest of 38 million tonnes.
Argentina also cut its output forecast for sunflower seeds to 3.2 million tonnes, from 3.24 million tonnes last month.