Argentina’s wheat-planting area for the current 2022/2023 harvesting season is estimated at 6.2 million hectares (15.3 million acres), down from the 6.3 million hectares previously estimated, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said on Thursday.
The cut is the fourth made by the exchange since the season began in May, mainly due to unfavorable weather that has prevented many farmers from meeting their original planting targets.
At the beginning of the cycle, the grains exchange estimated the wheat-planting area at 6.6 million hectares. In the previous season, the area used to plant the staple needed to make bread and pasta reached 6.7 million hectares.
According to the exchange’s weekly crop report, as of Wednesday, farmers in Argentina had planted 85.2% of the area planned for wheat, marking a delay of 6.1 percentage points compared to last year.
However, the short-term weather forecast is more encouraging. “During the next week, rains are expected to improve the water supply in these regions,” said the Exchange.
Regarding corn levels for the 2021/2022 cycle, the grains exchange said that last week’s dry weather favored the harvesting of the crop, which is estimated at 49 million tonnes, down from 52.5 million tonnes of the previous season.
The report also showed that local farmers have harvested 53% of the corn-planting area, after a weekly increase of 5.5 percentage points.
Argentina is the second largest international corn exporter, and the world’s fifth largest wheat exporter according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Peter Frontini; Editing by Chris Reese and Sandra Maler)
