Argentina wheat harvest ends, soy planting under threat

Argentina’s wheat and barley harvest has ended, according to a report released by the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange on Thursday, which said wheat production was 17 million mt and barley 3.1 million mt.

While those figures represent a 1.5% increase on the previous year, the country’s soy and corn plantings, which have been closely watched by futures markets, have still yet to be completed.

Soy plantings totalled 96.7%, up 2.4 percentage points on the week, but behind annual figures as 590,000 hectares still need to be planted in the northeast and northwest regions.

“In the hours prior to the publication of the report, observed rains over the Northeast region would allow the planting plans to continue. However, sectors in the northeast still have a significant water deficit,” the report said, adding there only remain a few days for sowing.

Nevertheless, the condition of the crop has improved due to higher levels of precipitation in the past week across the centre of the country, the exchange said, with the first fruits starting to show.

Corn planting showed similar figures, with 91.3% of the 5.4 million hectares completed. Those figures are up almost 6 percentage points on the week and against last year’s figures.

The exchange expects the sowing window for corn to extend until the first days of February.