La Nina continues to hamper Argentinian soy, corn planting

Soy planting in Argentina rose 10.7 percentage points on the week to reach 53.2%, according to data from the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, published Thursday, leaving the crop 4.4% below last year’s level as it suffers from the effect of La Nina.

The exchange said that in the past week the greatest bean planting progress was in the centre north of Cordoba, centre north of Santa Fe and centre east of Entre Rios, largely due to good soil moisture, although in the north progress was hampered.

“In the north of the country, work still does not gain momentum due to the scarce humidity available,” the exchange said.

Soy futures prices have been surging in fits and starts over the past two weeks, as traders have looked closely at Argentine weather to gauge next year’s production.

For corn a similar picture emerged with the exchange claiming that “the lack of moisture in the first centimetres of the profile continues to delay sowing tasks,” particularly in the provinces of Cordoba and Santa Fe.

Corn sowing is 40.4% complete on the 5.4 million hectares projected for the 2017/2018 season, the bourse said.

In terms of wheat, the harvest was 44.7% complete with an expected yield of 2.56 mt per hectare, with production expected to be unchanged at 17 million mt.