Buenos Aires, 24 May (Argus) — Argentina's agriculture ministry has revised down by about 1.5pc its expectations for the 2012-13 soybean harvest.
The country can now expect to harvest 50.6mn t of soybeans, down from its April last projection at 51.3mn t. Initial hope for this season was much more optimistic, with pre-season projections of 55mn t.
A lack of rain in the provinces of Chaco, Salta, Santiago del Estero and Tucuman led to crop losses and decreases in yields, pushing down the total estimate, according to the ministry.
Even so, the harvest is still expected to mark a sharp 26pc increase from the 40.1mn t seen in the last cycle, when Argentina's harvest was crushed by a widespread drought.
The soybean harvest has suffered interruptions over the past week due to heavy rain. Farmers in the world's third largest soybean exporting country have harvested roughly 93pc of the 19.7mn hectares of total farmland planted with the crop.
The Buenos Aires grains exchange has maintained its projection of 48.5mn t soybeans harvested in its latest weekly estimates. The Rosario grains exchange projects total production for the season at 48.3mn t, a slight increase from a previous estimate of 48mn t.
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