Oct 09, 2019
20% of Argentine Corn Planted, Very Little Soy, Dryness Worries
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Argentina Soybeans - Soybean planting in Argentina is just barely getting started. There might be a few soybeans planted in the core production areas where some farmers are finishing up their corn planting. On a nationwide basis, I am sure much less than 1% of the soybeans have been planted.
The weather in Argentina has generally been dryer than normal with better soil moisture in the central and eastern areas and dryer soil moisture in the western and southern areas. The forecast is calling for some rain over the next 1-2 weeks with most of it falling in the eastern areas.
The U.S. Attache is estimating that Argentine farmers will plant 18.0 million hectares of soybeans in 2019/20 (44.4 million acres), which is up 0.2 million hectares from last year. They are estimating that Argentina will produce 53.0 million tons of soybeans in 2019/20, which would be down 2.3 million tons from last year.
I am estimating that they will plant 17.6 million hectares and the production will be 50.0 million tons. The Attache mentioned that there a lot of uncertainly in Argentina due to economic and political turmoil and I agree. Since the soybean planting season in Argentina will not end until sometime in January, all of these estimates will probably change going forward.
Argentina Corn - The weather in eastern Argentina has improved over the last two weeks, but it remains dry in the western and southern production areas. There are some showers in the forecast, but it still looks like the rainfall will be less than average over the next 1-2 weeks.
Farmers in Argentina had planted 20.6% of their intended corn as of late last week, which represented an advance of 4.6% for the week. The vast majority of the planted corn is in the core production areas where the crop is 75-80% planted. Corn planting is also advanced in the province of Entre Rios where approximately 60% of the corn has been planted.
Corn is planted in two phases in Argentina and the early corn is 33% planted compared to 36% last year and 39% average. The condition of the early corn is rated 7% poor, 57% fair, and 35% good. In the areas where the corn has been planted, the soil moisture is approximately 25% short and 20% optimum.