Weather conditions in Argentina's farming belt should improve during the 2008/09 growing cycle as the La Nina phenomenon gradually peters out, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Friday.
Farmers in Argentina, one of the world's top exporters of corn, wheat and soybeans, saw 2007/08 crops hit by drought and extremes of hot and cold weather linked to La Nina, but the climate is expected to be somewhat kinder this season. "Conditions point to a gradual shift toward normal levels," the grains exchange said in a climate report, warning that 2008/09 crops could still face some difficulties into the Southern Hemisphere spring, which begins in late September.
"La Nina will probably continue to be felt during most of the winter and the first part of spring, so the normalization will be slow," it added. La Nina, which means "little girl" in Spanish, usually results in cooler-than-normal water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The better-known El Nino phenomenon causes waters in the Pacific to turn abnormally warm.
In Argentina, wheat-sowing has gotten off to a slow start due to parched soils in some growing areas, particularly in Santa Fe province, the country's third-biggest wheat region. And despite the gradually improving weather, the report warned that spring frosts might also cause problems. It added that early-planted 2008/09 corn and sunflowers, which are sown starting in August, could face similar risks.
In relation to early-seeded soyabeans, the report said hot, dry conditions could still be a risk during the key flowering phase. Argentina is the world's No 3 soybean supplier and the top exporter of soyaoil and soyameal.
The US Department of Agriculture estimates Argentine 2008/09 wheat output at 14.5 million tonnes, down from 16 million in 2007/08 as farmers dedicate less land to the grain. It expects corn production to rise to 23.5 million tonnes from 21 million this season and sees a record soy harvest of 48 million tonnes - 1 million tonnes more than in 2007/08.