Dec 02, 2020
2020/21 Argentina Corn 32% Planted vs. 46% Last Year
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
The rainfall last week and over the weekend will help to recharge the soil moisture in the central and northern part of the country and allow farmers to start planting their second phase of corn planting. The recent rains were very welcomed because of the earlier planted corn has started to pollinate and was exhibiting signs of moisture stress. The forecast is calling for additional chances of rain this week with a dryer trend next week.
Much of the corn planting last week was in the southern areas where there is better soil moisture. The 2020/21 corn in Argentina was 31.9% planted late last week compared to 46% last year and 40.8% average according to the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange. This represented an advance of 0.5% for the week.
The most advanced planting is in the northern core and southern core regions where approximately 85% of the corn has been planted. In southern Argentina 35-45% of the corn has been planted with no corn planted yet in far northern Argentina.
Corn is planted in two phases in Argentina. The first phase is generally planted during October with the second phase planted in December and January. The early planted corn is 62% in vegetative development with much of the corn in the 4-6 leaf stage and 2.9% of the corn is pollinating. In the eastern areas, a lack of soil moisture is starting to impede plant development.
There are reports that some farmers have started to plant their late corn and they will finish planting corn sometime in January. Therefore, some of the early corn in Argentina will be filling grain and approaching maturity while some of the later corn is still being planted.
The condition of the corn is rated 10% poor, 56% fair, and 34% good to excellent. The good to excellent percentage is down 1% from last week and 19% from last year. The soil moisture for the corn is rated 20% short to very short and 80% favorable to optimum. The favorable to optimum percentage is down 7% from last week and 9% from last year.
The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange is estimating the 2020/21 corn crop at 6.3 million hectares with a yield of 7,670 kg/ha (121.9 bu/ac) and a production of 47.0 million tons.