Thursday, 9 February 2017

Latest crop estimates for Argentina

I don’t often talk about countries outside the Black Sea but I am thinking about expanding my area of interest to include Brazil and Argentina, primarily as an excuse to visit and do some crop touring, so for the second time this week, here’s another post on South America.

The latest USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) report on Argentina has been released ahead of today’s latest WASDE figures. 

The FAS report is compiled by USDA staff who are in country and presumably have a better feel for the situation so I tend to take a bit more notice of these reports rather than the big numbers coming out of Washington.

The FAS estimation of Argentina’s 2016/17 wheat crop is 15.0mmt with exports of 8.6mmt, quality is considered to be good, far better than the past two crop seasons.

Barley production for 2016/17 is projected at 3.15mmt, the same as USDA, however FAS estimates barley exports at 1.2mmt, 600,000 tons lower than USDA.

Corn production is 36.5mmt, although the harvested area is reduced by 50,000 hectares due to severe rain storms in mid-December and mid-January, corn not directly affected by floods is considered to be in great condition.

Drop me a line if you are in Brazil or Argentina and would like to assist me setting up an independent Crop Tour service blackseacroptour@gmail.com