Jan 11, 2023
Early Planted Corn in Argentina Negatively Impacted by Dryness
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
The early planted corn is being hurt the most by the dry weather because the crop is now in its critical reproductive phase. The early planted corn was 42% pollinating as of late last week. The later planted corn is still being planted or in early vegetative development. The Argentine corn estimate was lowered 1.0 million tons this week due mostly to the expected low yields from the early planted corn.
The corn in Argentina was 69.9% planted as of late last week compared to 77.3% last year and 84.5% average. This represented an advance of 7% for the week. In the core production areas, the corn is approximately 95% planted with 85-100% planted in southern Argentina and approximately 20% planted in northern Argentina.
Corn planting in Argentina continues to be very slow with approximately 30% of the corn not planted. The corn planting window in Argentina usually closes by the end of January, but farmers would like to have their corn planted before that date.
The 2022/23 corn in Argentina is rated 32% poor/very poor, 55% fair, and 13% good/excellent. The good/excellent percentage is down 2% from the previous week. The soil moisture for the corn is rated 39% short/very short and 61% favorable optimum. The favorable/optimum percentage is down 3% from the prior week.
Province of Cordoba - The province of Cordoba is expected to plant 3.3 million hectares of corn in 2022/23, which is approximately 40% of the total corn planted in Argentina. As of earlier last week, the Grain Exchange of Cordoba reported that 72% of the corn in the province had been planted, 13% slower than the prior year, according to Info Campo. Dry conditions continue to slow the completion of the corn planting.
Approximately 35% of the corn in the province is rated as fair or poor and this is especially worrisome for the early planted corn that is in its reproductive phase. The later planted corn is either emerging or in vegetative development and the damage caused by hot and dry weather at this point could be reversed if the weather would improve going forward.