Argentina’s wheat planting has shown a sharp increase in the last week, thanks to dry weather in much of the South American country, according to the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange (BdeC).
Argentina is a key wheat exporter, and the grains exchange reported that the country’s 2024/25 wheat sowing has advanced 20.6 percentage points during the last week. This has brought the planted area for the cereal to 46.3% of the planned 6.2 million hectares.
However, the BdeC also warned that dry conditions were becoming a concern in the northern regions of the country.
“In the north of the country, the lack of surface moisture slows down the entry of the machines, which could compromise the fulfillment of the sowing plans,” the BdeC said in its weekly crop report.
Meanwhile, the 2023/24 soybean harvesting tasks are nearing completion in Argentina, with farmers having harvested 96% of the fields planted with the oilseed. The country’s soybean production for the 2023/24 season is expected to reach 50.5 million tons, according to the grains exchange.
Harvesting tasks for the 2023/24 season have been completed in 40.3% of the planted area, with an estimated production of 46.5 million tons, the BdeC added.
The rapid progress in wheat planting across much of Argentina, except for the northern regions, reflects the importance of the cereal in the country’s agricultural landscape. As a key wheat exporter, the success of Argentina’s wheat crop is closely watched by global markets.
The BdeC’s report highlights the uneven impact of weather conditions across the country, with the northern regions facing potential challenges in meeting their sowing plans due to the lack of surface moisture. This underscores the importance of monitoring regional variations in crop conditions to understand the overall outlook for Argentina’s agricultural production.