Oil World forecasts fall in Argentine soya planting

Argentina's 2004/05 soyabean plantings are likely to fall to 14.0 million hectares from 14.4 million hectares in 2003/04 as farmers turn to grain, Hamburg-based newsletter Oil World said.
"Soybeans have lost competitiveness in Argentina, partly due to the relatively firmer prices for corn and other crops, but mainly due to their considerably higher production costs and the risk of quantitative losses as a result of Asian rust fungus," it said.
Crop rotation requirements following the strong rise in soyabean plantings in the past few years could also cut the planted area, it said.
But Argentinean farmers could still change their minds and plant more if the world soyabean market changes, it said.