Mar 22, 2018
Drought results in Significant Crop Loses in Cordoba, Argentina
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Farmers in the province of Cordoba, Argentina are harvesting some of their early planted corn and soybean crops and results are not encouraging. The Rosario Grain Exchange is reporting early corn yields of 6,000 kg/ha (92.4 bu/ac) for corn planted in early October of last year. Early soybean yields are reported in the range of 2,000 to 2,400 kg/ha (29 to 35 bu/ac).
For the 2017/18 growing season, the Rosario Grain Exchange is expecting the average soybean yield in Cordoba to be 2,200 kg/ha (31.9 bu/ac), which is 500 kg/ha less than their February estimate (-7.2 bu/ac) and 1,000 kg/ha less than the 2016/17 growing season (-14.5 bu/ac).
For the corn crop in Cordoba, the Rosario Grain Exchange is estimating the average yield at 6,000 kg/ha (92.4 bu/ac), which is 800 kg/ha less than in February (-12.3 bu/ac) and 2,600 kg/ha less than last year (-40 bu/ac) when the corn yield was 8,630 kg/ha (132.9 bu/ac).
The Rosario Grain Exchange is estimating the total 2017/18 soybean production in Argentina at 40.0 million tons and the total corn production at 32.0 million tons.
The Dutch bank Rabobank is also estimating the 2017/18 Argentine soybean crop at 40.0 million tons and they indicated that their estimate could move lower if hot and dry weather persists. A 40 million ton production would represent a decline of 18 million tons from the 2016/17 growing season. For the Argentine corn crop, the bank is estimating the 2017/18 production at 33.0 million tons.
In their latest weekly report, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange estimated the 2017/18 Argentine soybean production at 42.0 million tons and the corn production at 34.0 million tons.