He London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) raised its estimate of the Argentine wheat harvest by 3% this Wednesday to 18.2 million tonsafter the rains recorded in the Pampas region relieved the areas affected by drought.
The eastern Pampas region, where more than 90% of the country’s wheat crop is grown, has received up to 180 mm of precipitation in total (80 mm above normal) in the last 30 days, the report noted.
“This has greatly helped to recharge soil moisture to adequate levels in the main producing areas, including north of Buenos Aires and south of Santa Fewhere drought conditions predominated until early October,” LSEG noted.
The report clarified that, although the rainfall has been beneficial, the persistent heavy rains also caused “some local flooding problems, especially in the south of Córdoba and in southern areas“.
“These areas are likely to see a much drier weather over the next weekwhich should help crops overcome the critical phases of heading and prepare for harvest,” he concluded.
It is worth noting that currently the price of a ton of wheat is around US$210. Therefore, assuming that half of the estimated production will be destined for sale abroad, this would represent a foreign currency income at current values of more than US$1.9 billion for the harvest months (most of it usually enters in January).
The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange already anticipated a significant increase in wheat production
A month ago the Buenos Aires Cereal Exchange (BCBA) It projected a grain production of 130 million tons, including soybean, corn, wheat, barley, sunflower and sorghum crops. This would result in a slight increase of 1.3% versus the previous campaign.
For almost all products, it estimated a year-on-year increase, highlighting a 23.2% increase in wheat. On the contrary, in corn a contraction of 5.1% was expected, as a result of a combination of factors, which includes the negative impact of the leafhopper pest, the low expected rainfall and the lower relative profitability compared to other products.
Source: Ambito
