South America Calling

Argentine grain crops continue to look in excellent condition with showers nourishing soybeans and corn over the last week, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange reported Thursday.

The rains did not greatly impede soybean harvest efforts, which moved forward 6.8 percentage points during the week to reach 13.8% complete as of Thursday.

In its weekly report, the exchange noted that yields from the latest soybeans collected had fallen by around 6% to 60 bushels per acre. This is a phenomenon that it expects to continue. But a bumper crop of 58.5 million metric tons is still expected

Drier weather has also allowed corn harvesting to gain momentum. As of Thursday, Argentine farmers had harvested 17.1% of the corn crop, with average yields of 142 bpa.

The exchange forecasts Argentina will produce 23.0 mmt in the 2014-15 season.

Light rains are expected to continue across the grain belt for the next week, continuing to nurture the crop.

(AG)

© Copyright 2015 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.