A lack of soil moisture this week slowed Argentine farmers' progress to sow 2007/08 soyabeans, the Agriculture Secretariat said on Friday, adding that some fields needed replanting due to frost damage.
The 2006/07 soya harvest in Argentina, the world's No 3 soya provider, yielded a record 47.5 million tonnes and even more land is being dedicated to the oilseed this season, according to government estimates.
"In the region of Laboulaye, Cordoba province, the dry weather remains and with high temperatures, causing a lack of soil moisture in some areas. Some fields of early-planted soya still need to be sown," the government said in its weekly crop progress report.
Cordoba is the top soya-growing district. In No 2 producer, Buenos Aires province, showers did allow farmers to step up planting, though frosts earlier this month have forced them to replant crops that were damaged. The government estimates a record soya area of 16.6 million hectares (41 million acres), over 2 percent more than during the prior cycle, and the US Department of Agriculture expects Argentina's harvest to come to 47 million tonnes.