Argentina's 2016-17 soya crop was forecast at 53.5 million tonnes by the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange on Thursday, citing poor weather as a reason for an expected drop from 56 million tonnes in the previous crop year. The forecast, given in the exchange's weekly crop report, was its first harvest estimate of the current season. It cited December and January flood rains in central soya-growing areas as one of the reasons for the expected fall in production.
"Of the 770,000 hectares affected by the floods, we expect no more than 400,000 hectares to be lost," the report said. The weather has improved in most affected areas and waterlogged field have begun to dry out, it added. Soya area has given way to more corn and wheat planting after President Mauricio Macri eliminated export taxes and opened the international market for those two grains, reversing the heavy trade controls favored by former president Cristina Fernandez as a way of ensuring ample domestic food supplies.