South America Calling

Rain clouds unloaded over Argentina's principal soy regions over the last 72 hours.

Precipitation reaching 15 inches in isolated spots and commonly totaling 6 inches lashed the provinces of Cordoba, Santa Fe, Entre Rios and northern Buenos Aires, with hailstorms also reported.

As a result, soybean harvesting, which is about 10% complete, has been basically halted.

Farmers are worried the humidity will affect the quality of the soybeans ready to be harvested and possibly cause losses further down the line.

"A continuation of the storms puts the region in a very complicated situation and could cause new losses to the crop to be harvest and damage to the later soybeans and the second-crop soybeans," said the Rosario Cereals Exchange in a note Monday.

Further rainfall is expected Tuesday and Wednesday.

Up until this week, the crop was looking in excellent condition and well on course to hit the 54 million to 55 million metric tons (mmt) predicted by most.

The Rosario exchange last week reported average yields of 50 bushels per acre in the heart of the soybean belt, an area where about 20% of the crop has been harvested, adding later crops were all looking in good-to-excellent condition.

It remains to be seen if the current rain significantly alters that outlook.

(AG)

© Copyright 2014 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.