Apr 15, 2020
2019/20 Argentina Soybeans 16% Harvested
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Dryer weather last week allowed farmers in Argentina to accelerate their soybean harvest. The temperatures last week in Argentina were colder than normal with patchy frosts in Buenos Aires, La Pampa, southern Santa Fe, and extreme southern Cordoba. The cold temperatures could impact the double crop soybeans which are still filling pods.
The soybean harvest in Argentina advanced to 16.2% compared to 16.9% last year and 15.4% average. This represents an advance of 8% for the week. The early planted soybeans are 23.5% harvested while the later planted soybeans are less than 1% harvested.
The soybeans in Argentina are rated 31% good to excellent, which is down 2 points from the prior week and the soil moisture is rated 86% favorable to optimum, which is up 1 point from the prior week.
The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange reported that the average soybean yield nationwide last week was 3,620 kg/ha (53.5 bu/ac), which was down 130 kg/ha (1.9 bu/ac) from the week before. The soybean harvest in most advanced in the northern core region where approximately 70% of the early planted soybeans have been harvested. In the southern core region, approximately 34% of the early planted soybeans have been harvested.
In both of these regions, the average yield thus far has been approximately 3,900 kg/ha (57.7 bu/ac), which is basically the highest yields in the country. As the harvest progresses into lower yielding environments, I expect the weekly yield reports to continue declining.
After lowering their soybean estimate 2.5 million tons two weeks ago, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange left their soybean estimate unchanged last week at 49.5 million tons. In the April WASDE Report, the USDA lowered their estimate of the 2019/20 Argentina soybean estimate by 2.0 million tons to 52.0 million.