Its vast Pampas farm belt has been hit by unusually strong rains this season that have swamped fields and bred toxic fungus-based diseases that are hurting crop yields. "A week ahead of starting the harvest in the central wheat belt, the forecasted results will not make up for the severe drop in yields that has been seen in other regions of the country," the exchange said in its weekly report.
The floods - which started during an August-to-October rainy spell and have been sustained by normal rainfall since then - have complicated wheat harvesting and slowed planting of 2012/13 soybeans and corn, raising concerns about those crops as well. Argentina's top crop is soybeans. As of Thursday, farmers had planted 63.3 percent of the 19.7 million hectares expected to be dedicated to soy this season. The tempo of planting lagged last year's by 9.6 percentage points, the exchange said.
Sixty one percent of Argentina's 2012/13 corn is in the ground, the exchange said, lagging last season's seeding pace by 10 percentage points. The exchange expects 3.4 million hectares to be planted with commercial-use corn during this crop year. Growers meanwhile have brought in 42.4 percent of this season's wheat, lagging the previous season's harvesting pace by 8 percentage points.
"The delay is a consequence of the rains that have hindered harvesting over the last seven days," the report said. The US Department of Agriculture forecasts Argentina will produce 11.5 million tonnes of wheat this season. The South American country is expected to harvest 55 million tonnes of 2012/13 soybeans and 27.5 million tonnes of corn, the USDA says.