Rains delay corn planting in some areas of Argentina

Argentina's northern and central farm belts have been pounded by storms in recent days, slowing corn planting with almost 91 percent of the 2016/17 crop already sown, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said in its weekly report on Thursday. Rain has softened the earth in intended corn areas to the point where planting machines have started sinking in the mud, the report said, while roads in the area have been washed out.
"The biggest problems of excess moisture are in central Santa Fe, eastern Cordoba and western Buenos Aires provinces," the report said. The exchange expects 4.9 million hectares to be sown with commercial use corn, meaning that which is sold rather than used on the farm where it was grown, this season. The government says it expects 7.25 million hectares of corn for all uses to be sown.
The difference in the class of corn counted helps explain why the government's annual corn harvest estimates tend to be higher than private forecasts. The agriculture ministry said on Wednesday that it expected 44.51 million tonnes to be harvested this season versus 39.8 million tonnes in 2015/16. The jump corn in planting was triggered by a change in trade policy 13 months ago that ditched the corn and wheat export taxes and controls that were favored by the previous government.
The Buenos Aires exchange has not yet published a 2016/17 corn harvest estimate. Argentine is one of the world's main corn and soy exporters. The country is expected to harvest 56 million tonnes of soy in the 2016/17 season versus 58.8 million tonnes produced in the 2015/16 crop year, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.
Greater sowing of wheat and corn has cut into land previously planted with soy. The exchange has not published its 2016/17 soy harvest estimate, but says its expects 19.3 million hectares to be planted with the oilseed versus 20.1 million hectares in 2015/16. Floods in soy areas over recent weeks has been partly compensated for by "good to very good" yields in early planted areas, the exchange said in its report.