Adverse weather delays soybean and corn harvest in Argentina

The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange (BAGE) has warned that due to warm and dry weather, soybean yields will be lower than expected, so the 2023/24 FY production forecast, which currently stands at 51 million tonnes, may be lowered.

In northeast Argentina, weather is delaying soybean harvest and yields are lower than forecast. As of May 8, soybeans were threshed on 47.8% of the area, which is 13% less than the 5-year average. At the same time, corn is threshed by 23.4%, as the high level of moisture in the grain after the heavy rains in April delays the work.

Last week, BAGE experts lowered the forecast for the 2023/24 maize crop by 3 million tonnes to 46.5 million tonnes due to crop damage caused by leafhoppers and adverse weather.

The forecast of the Grain Exchange in Rosario is somewhat more optimistic, although due to the delay in harvesting in the main agrarian regions of the country, the estimate of corn production in 2023/24 MR has been reduced to 47.5 million tons, while the forecast for the soybean harvest remains at the level of 50 million tons.

"The rains will end in the next few days, so the harvest will be harvested in the first half of May, and the cold front with frosts will allow to reduce the number of leafhoppers that harm corn crops," - experts of the exchange believe.

We will remind that Argentina and Brazil are the main world exporters of soybean oil and meal. At the same time, Argentina is the third largest world exporter of corn after the USA and Brazil.