BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s 2010-11 wheat production is seen rising 43 percent from last season when a devastating drought slashed output to its lowest level in three decades, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said Sept. 30.
Dry conditions had raised concern in recent months, but the exchange said plentiful rains over the last few weeks had boosted production expectations, putting its first estimate at a minimum of 11.3 million tonnes.
The country is one of the world’s leading suppliers of wheat and attention is focused on its 2010-11 crop due to an export freeze imposed by Russia, the No. 3 global supplier of the grain.
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“Although most crops still have almost three months before harvest, a period in which frosts or high temperatures could cause damage during key development stages, the early reproductive phases are advancing well so far,” the weekly crop report said.
Last year, Argentina produced 7.9 million tonnes of wheat and exports sank.
Meanwhile, the grains exchange held its outlook for the 2010-11 commercial use corn area at 7.4 million acres and said farmers had already planted 26 percent of the estimated area, up 12.5 percentage points from the previous week.
Moist soils have spurred plantings in western parts of the corn belt, the report said.
Argentina is the world’s No. 2 corn supplier after the United States and its farmers gathered a record 2009-10 crop of 22.5 million tonnes due to near-perfect weather conditions that lifted yields.
Growers are also planting sunseeds and the grains exchange raised its forecast for the sowing area to four million acres, up 19.7 percent on the previous campaign.
