Argentine soyabean output will fall to 40 million tonnes in the 2008-09 season from 48 million tonnes in the previous crop as the country is hit by drought, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Friday. Argentina is an agricultural powerhouse and the world's third biggest exporter of soy. But farming areas are drying up due to severe rain shortage over the last year.
"The harsh drought is cutting productivity by an average of 14 percent and reducing surface farmland by 3.2 percent," said a weekly report by the exchange. Argentina has had scattered rains in recent days, but not enough to reverse the emergency. The government has offered to increase subsidies but farmers are clamouring for the construction of aqueducts and a cut in the export taxes that they say are crippling their finances.
Through Friday farmers had planted 99.7 percent of the 17.75 million hectares planned for the 2008-09 season, advancing 0.8 percentage point from last week. The government has not published its forecast for 2008-09 soy production. The US Department of Agriculture predicts an Argentine harvest of 49.5 million tonnes in 2008-09.
CORN The scattered rains that have hit Argentina over the last 10 days came late to save parts of the country's corn crop that have withered under the blazing sun, the exchange said. The exchange has not announced a forecast for the corn harvest but the US government estimates 2008-09 production will be 16.5 million tonnes versus 20.85 million tonnes in the pervious period.