Argentine farmers began planting wheat for the 2016-17 season over the last week and should plant 4.5 million hectares, in line with forecasts despite heavy rains that damaged cropland last month, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said on Thursday.
That means Argentina, a major global exporter of wheat, will dedicate 25 percent more land to the grain this year than last, when 3.6 million hectares of land were planted with wheat. Argentine agriculture has seen a boost since President Mauricio Macri, who took office in December, eliminated taxes and export caps. The exchange said wheat farmers had planted 1.7 percent of the total area to be cultivated.
In April, heavy rains pounded much of Argentina's central agricultural region, causing a loss of 785,000 hectares planted with 2015-16 season soybeans, according to the Exchange. The harvest of soybeans, Argentina's main crop, whose production should reach 56 million tonnes in the 2015-16 cycle, has advanced steadily in recent days, although it is still far slower than last year's pace, the exchange said. As of Thursday, farmers had harvested 61.1 percent of land dedicated to soybean cultivation, 9.8 percentage points up from the prior week. However, compared with the 2014-15 season, it is 26.4 points behind progress seen then.