Market News & Headlines >> Argentine Soy Crop Worries

Heavy rains and flooding in parts of Argentina’s soybean growing belt have caused harvest delays and notable crop losses, providing some fundamental impetus for the recent rally in Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures. 

Estimates of Argentine crop losses are on the rise. Last week, Argentine trade analysts interviewed by Reuters News Service estimated that about 5% of the crop had been wiped out with 800,000-900,000 hectares (1.98-2.22 million acres) of soybean plantings likely to go unharvested. 

On Thursday, Argentina’s Agriculture Ministry lowered its official soybean crop estimate by 5.4% to 56.7 million metric tons from a March forecast of 60.9 million tons.

On Monday,  Ricardo Baccarin, president of Argentine commodity broker Panagricola, offered a more pessimistic view of the crop, telling Dow Jones News Wires that he twas slashing his estimate of Argentina’s production by 6 million metric tons to 55 million, 4 million below USDA’s most recent estimate.