BAGE cuts Argentina’s 2021-22 corn output forecast by 6 mil mt to 51 mil mt

The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange has cut Argentina’s corn production forecast by 6 million mt to 51 million mt for marketing year 2021-22 due to drought suffered by the early-planted corn crop.

The 2021-22 corn crop will be marketed from March 2022 to February 2023.
Argentina produced 52.5 million mt of corn in MY 2020-21, according to the data released by BAGE.

Despite rains in February, 25% of the corn area continues to be in average or bad condition, BAGE said.

Currently, water levels in the country are favorable for the late-planted corn, but the crops will need more rains in coming days, BAGE said.

However, the weather forecast for Argentina in the coming days was not favorable.

“Further declines in soil moisture are expected over the next 10 days, dropping well below normal. The increased dryness will increase stress on corn and soybeans once again, although the lack of extreme heat will prevent the same level of crop stress seen in early to mid-January,” Maxar said in its daily weather report Feb. 10.

Early corn is usually planted September-October and harvested April-May in Argentina, while the late-corn crop is sown December-January and harvested June-July.

Weekly crop sales by producers have stagnated amid uncertainty over the size of the corn crop in Argentina, agriculture ministry data showed.

Weekly corn sales by producers were around 128,000 mt for the week ended Feb. 2, while they totaled more than 1 million mt in December 2021.

Farmers in the country have already marketed 14.995 million mt of MY 2021-22 corn as of Feb. 2, compared with 15.979 million mt a year ago, agriculture ministry data showed.

Argentina is one of the top three corn exporters in the world.

S&P Global Platts

Tags: corn, Production, forecast, rains, Argentina, Buenos Aires Grains Exchange, BAGE