Argentina’s 2021/22 wheat crop is deteriorating in the country’s northern and central farm belt due to inadequate rainfall, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Thursday, but kept its harvest forecast unchanged at 19 million tonnes.
Argentina is an important international supplier of wheat, especially to neighboring Brazil. The exchange said in its weekly report that Argentine growers had sown 98% of the 6.5 million hectares that it expects to be planted with the grain this year. Wheat harvesting in the country ends in January.
In northwestern Argentina “the condition of the crop continues to fall week by week, as crops begin to go through critical development stages” amid low rainfall, the exchange said.
“Toward the center of the farm belt, crop condition is gradually deteriorating from east to west, also due to dryness,” it said. But in the southern part of the farm belt, an area heavily planted with wheat, crops were in optimal condition.
Argentina’s 2020/21 soy crop has already been harvested with 72% of the 2020/21 corn crop already in the bag. The exchange expects a corn harvest of 48 million tonnes.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Maximilian Heath in Buenos Aires Writing by Hugh Bronstein Editing by Matthew Lewis)