South America Calling

Argentine farmers will plant 8.3% more wheat in 2013-14, taking total area to 9.6 million acres, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange forecast Monday.

Area will rise for the first time in three years after alternative crops, most notably barley, failed amid extremely wet conditions in the second half of last year. With wheat margins better this year, farmers in the southern Buenos Aires heartlands are returning to the crop they know best, said the exchange.

While wheat acreage will rise, it still remains 20% below the average for the last 10 years.

Farmers have spurned wheat in recent times because of the government's quota system on exports, which limits market liquidity and pressures prices.

As the planting season approaches, soil moisture conditions are generally good, although drier conditions do prevail in the west, the exchange said.

Argentina exports most of its wheat to Brazil, whose mills have started importing more and more from elsewhere over the last couple of years as its neighbor registered successive small crops.

(AG)

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