The rainfall last week in Argentina was more concentrated in the southern areas and they offered modest relief from the dry conditions. The forecast for this week is for improved chances of rainfall in the western, northwestern, and northern areas of Argentina with lighter amounts in the core production areas.
As of late last week, the soybeans in Argentina were 93.5% planted compared to 93% last year and 95.2% average. This represents an advance of 6% for the week. Planting is complete in the core production areas with 90-95% of the soybeans planted in southern Argentina and 60-75% planted in far northern Argentina.
The condition of the soybeans were rated 17% poor, 56% fair, and 27% good to excellent late last week. The good to excellent percentage compares to 42% last week and 52% last year. The good to excellent rating declined 15% in a week, which is a huge drop. The soil moisture for the soybeans was 49% short to very short and 51% favorable to optimum. The favorable to optimum percentage compares to 71% last week and 94% last year. The favorable to optimum declined 20% in a week, which is also a huge decline.
The full-season soybeans were 32% flowering and the double crop soybeans were just barely starting to flower. The adverse conditions have kept the soybeans smaller than normal and they have not closed the canopy so they can’t take advantage of all the solar radiation. Soybeans will enter the pod filling period with 10-20 days and if the rainfall does improve, significant yield losses will be locked in.
Much of the core production areas are considered to be in drought and any missed rainfall opportunities is going to have a negative impact on the soybean yield potential. Additionally, there are reports that some of the double crop soybeans are losing plants due to the dryness.
