South America Calling

Argentina's grain belt has received consistent rain over the past two weeks, but it wasn't enough to allow many soybeans to recover from the previous six weeks of dryness, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said in its weekly report.

As a result, the exchange opted to lower its Argentine 2012-13 soybean crop view by 1.5 million metric tons (mmt) to 48.5 mmt on Thursday afternoon.

Precipitation arrived late in the northern provinces, which reduce yields and area harvested in the region, it said.

A large part of the central grain belt will also see yields compromised by the dry weather, which caused pod abortions, it added.

According to the exchange, prospects for the crop vary greatly from region to region.

In the north of the belt, losses were significant, while first-crop beans in southern Cordoba, northern La Pampa and the west of Buenos Aires are in much better shape than the second-crop beans.

In contrast to the beans, the corn crop weathered the dry spell better and has benefitted from the recent rains, the exchange said.

Mild temperatures have also helped and, with yields from early harvesting looking promising, the exchange opted to maintain its forecast of 25 mmt for the coming crop. That would be a record harvest at 16% higher than the year before.

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