Jan 19, 2022
Weekly Argentina Crop Ratings May Have Bottomed Out
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
The weather last week in Argentina was "brutal" with extremely high temperatures and a lack of rainfall. The weather improved over the weekend with good rains across a wide swath of the central production belt. The 10-day forecast is calling for a wetter period in Argentina and farmers are hoping that the worst weather of the growing season is now behind them.
For several years, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange has been releasing weekly crop condition reports for the soybean and corn crops. Below are the weekly conditions for the 2021/22 crops. As you can see, the percentage of the corn rated good/excellent (Gd/Ex) topped out the first week of December and it has been declining ever since. The percentage of the soybeans rated good/excellent started out high during the first week of December, but it too has declined on a weekly basis.
With the recent rains over the weekend and more rain in the forecast, it is possible that the percentage of the crops rated good/excellent in Argentina may have bottomed out, at least for the time being.
2021/22 Crop Ratings in Argentina
| Soybeans | Corn | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | V. Poor/Poor % | Fair % | Gd/Ex % | V. Poor/Poor % | Fair % | Gd/Ex % |
| October 21 | - | - | - | 1 | 34 | 65 |
| October 28 | - | - | - | 0 | 27 | 73 |
| November 4 | - | - | - | 0 | 18 | 82 |
| November 11 | - | - | - | 0 | 16 | 84 |
| November 18 | - | - | - | 0 | 9 | 91 |
| November 25 | - | - | - | 1 | 18 | 81 |
| December 2 | 0 | 12 | 88 | 0 | 10 | 90 |
| December 9 | 1 | 24 | 75 | 0 | 15 | 85 |
| December 16 | 1 | 25 | 74 | 1 | 16 | 83 |
| December 23 | 3 | 26 | 71 | 1 | 23 | 76 |
| December 30 | 8 | 36 | 56 | 8 | 34 | 58 |
| January 6 | 13 | 39 | 48 | 21 | 39 | 40 |
| January 13 | 29 | 40 | 31 | 36 | 41 | 23 |
Source: Buenos Aires Grain Exchange
The soybeans in Argentina were 92.5% planted as of late last week which means there were still approximately 1.2 million hectares of soybeans left to plant. The corn in Argentina was 86.4% planted last week which means there was still approximately 1.0 million hectares of corn left to plant. The planting window is quickly closing and farmers in Argentina need to plant their remaining crops before the end of January.