Argentine farmers are seeding the new soyabean crop in top producers Santa Fe and Cordoba provinces, as well as in northern Buenos Aires, the No 3 grower, the Agriculture Secretariat said in its weekly crop progress report.
The government forecasts that farmers will seed between 15.0 million and 15.3 million hectares with soya this season, up from 14.4 million hectares last year. The government has yet to detail how much of forecast area has been seeded nation-wide.
In both Santa Fe and Cordoba, the government said recent rains will allow farmers to seed soyabeans province-wide, once soggy soils dry out a bit.
In western Buenos Aires province, however, the government said "it is indispensable that rains fall in the short term to be able to start, or continue in some cases, soya plantings."
The US Department of Agriculture puts Argentina's 2005/06 soya output at a record 40.5 million tonnes, while the government in August unofficially forecast 40 million tonnes.