Rains this week in Argentina's top agricultural province, which was previously unaffected by recent wet weather, may further damage the 2015/2016 soyabean harvest, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said on Thursday. Argentina is the world's top exporter of soya oil and soyameal and the third largest supplier of raw beans.
For now, the exchange is keeping output forecasts for the bean at 56 million tonnes this season, after severe April rains left crops under water and sent prices climbing on shortage fears. Buenos Aires province, the country's top agricultural area, had escaped bad weather until this week when rains hit the southern part of the region, along with some parts of La Pampa province.
Farmers have harvested 78.7 percent of 20.1 million hectares dedicated to soya, a 6.5 percentage point increase over last week and a delay of 14.8 points compared to last year. Analysts say the country could export up to 25 percent less soya than last season. Many soya crop estimates are down to between 52 million and 56.5 million tonnes from about 60 million before the southern parts of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Cordoba provinces were lashed by record storms in April. The loss in tonnage may stop there if the weather improves as forecasted. Crop quality losses will take longer to calculate. This year's El Nino phenomenon, which causes global climate extremes, has worsened floods in some parts of South America, including Argentina. In other areas like Colombia it has brought drought.