Array
(
)
)
--> Argentina's soyabean harvest advanced by 3.1 percentage points to reach a total of 96.1 percent of planted area in the world's No 1 exporter of soyaoil and soyameal, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said in its weekly crop report on Thursday.
The South American country, also the world's third-biggest supplier of raw soyabeans, is expected by the exchange to harvest 48.5 million tonnes of beans in the 2012/13 season. n"Over the last seven days, the harvest has been completed in north-central Cordoba province," the report said. The average yield in that part of the Pampas farm belt is 14 percent higher this crop year than in the 2011/12 season, it said. Argentina as a whole produced 40.1 million tonnes of soyabeans in 2011/12, according to government data, after a mid-season drought took a heavy toll on yields.
More than 70 percent of Argentine lands that remain to be harvested are in the country's grains bulwark province of Buenos Aires, where some fields were hurt by earlier-than-usual frosts, the report said. "Consequently, the national average yield will continue to fall over the next few weeks until the harvest is concluded," the exchange said, adding that it expects a final nationwide average of 2.55 tonnes of soya per hectare.
The Argentine government last week cut its 2012/13 soyabean crop forecast to 50.6 million tonnes from its April forecast of 51.3 million tonnes, citing the impact of dry weather in northern growing regions. Paraguay, the world's No 4 soyabean exporter, harvested a record high 9.3 million tonnes this crop year, more than doubling the previous season's take, the country's grains exporting chamber said on Wednesday.
The US Department of Agriculture expects South American grains powerhouse Brazil to produce 83.5 million tonnes of soya this year and sees Argentina producing 51 million tonnes. Argentine farmers advanced by 4.2 percentage points in harvesting their 2012/13 corn during the week, lagging last year's pace by 7 points, the exchange said. As of Thursday, they had gathered 54.7 percent of their corn area. The exchange forecasts the corn harvest at 24.8 million tonnes. At the same time, Argentine farmers have planted 9 percent of the 3.9 million hectares estimated to be sown with 2013/14 wheat, the report said. Wheat area is seen expanding 8.3 percent from last season.
Copyright Reuters, 2013