Argentina trims soya, corn-planting estimates

Argentina trimmed its soya and corn-planting estimates on Thursday as key parts of the country's Pampas grains belt contend with excessively hot, dry conditions that could cause a decline in yields and sowing area. In its monthly crop report, the Agriculture Ministry said it expected 16.75 million hectares to be planted with soya, down slightly from its previous 16.8-million-hectare estimate.
"In some areas, soyabeans could not be planted due to lack of moisture," the report said. Farmers are expected to sow 8.7 million hectares of corn in the current 2017-18 crop year, compared with a previous estimate of 8.8 million hectares, according to the government. Argentina is the world's No 3 exporter of both corn and soyabeans, and the No 1 supplier of soyameal livestock feed.
The drought has put upward pressure on world soya and corn prices in recent weeks. Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures pulled back after topping $10 a bushel on Thursday, ending flat as US traders monitored weather on the Pampas. Big soya harvests in the United States and Brazil may offset losses in Argentina. The USDA this month projected world soyabean inventories at the end of the 2017/18 marketing year, or global ending stocks, at 98.57 million tonnes. That would be an all-time high, up from the previous year's record of 96.49 million.
The threat to Argentina's soya and corn crops is now the possible loss in yields caused by dryness rather than, as originally feared, wide areas being too dry to plant at all, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said in its weekly crop report. "Rains over the north of the country allowed sowing of soyabeans to resume," it said. "To date, it is estimated that the national advance in planting has covered 98.9 percent of the projected surface area of 18 million hectares."
It said 92.4 percent of 2017/18 corn had been planted, with the total area projected at 5.4 million hectares. "In southern Buenos Aires province, lack of moisture is restricting the growth of corn fields planted early in the season," the exchange report said.