Rains ease Argentina’s corn, wheat and soybean burden: BAGE

Well-timed rains have offered some relief to the planting of corn and soybeans in Argentina, while the wheat harvest is approaching the halfway stage, according to a weekly update from the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange (BAGE).

For wheat, the agency reported the harvest now complete on 3 million hectares, around 46% of the total area with “significant weekly process” of up to 35 percentage points made in some regions.

Yields are estimated at 2.75 mt/ha, leading BAGE to maintain its 18.5 million mt outlook for this year’s crop.

The agency has already had to lower its expected forecast for Argentina’s wheat crop as hot, dry weather has taken a toll on the developing crop.

For corn and soybeans, the rains have provided some reassurance and enabled farmers to pick up the planting pace, with soybeans now complete on 49.3% of the 17.7 million ha BAGE expects to be planted.

That amounted to a ten percentage point increase week-on-week, with corn mustering a less impressive 2.5 percentage point increase to take planting to 48.7% complete on the 6.3 million ha BAGE expects to be sown.

Finally, alongside wheat, the barley harvest has also got underway with 8.5% already harvested and yields suggesting 3.39 mt/ha.

BAGE expects barley to have been grown on around 950,000 ha.