Argentina soy crop forecast cut again, down nearly 7% on adverse weather

So far, soybean farmers have harvested 54% of 16 million hectares planted, according to the report. In the previous 2021/2022 harvest, the soybean harvest reached 42.2 million tonnes, the exchange said, or nearly double the latest estimate. The exchange's forecast for the 2022/2023 corn crop, meanwhile, remains at 32 million tonnes, but still far below the previous season's yield, when farmers harvested 51 million tonnes of the grain.

Argentina's Rosario Grains exchange cut its forecast for the 2022/2023 soybean harvest by 6.5% to 21.5 million tonnes, it said on Wednesday, as the effects of adverse weather hit the country's top crop.

The previous soy crop forecast from the grains exchange was 23 million tonnes. While Argentina is one of the world's leading exporters of processed soybeans, the current 2022/23 season has been severely hit by a drought and other severe weather conditions that are provoking major losses for both farmers as well as the cash-strapped government.

"The unprecedented frosts in February, the lack of water, as well as the heat, are showing up in the soy harvest," the exchange wrote in its monthly report, referring in particular to the untimely frosts in the middle of the southern hemisphere's summer. So far, soybean farmers have harvested 54% of 16 million hectares planted, according to the report.

In the previous 2021/2022 harvest, the soybean harvest reached 42.2 million tonnes, the exchange said, or nearly double the latest estimate. The exchange's forecast for the 2022/2023 corn crop, meanwhile, remains at 32 million tonnes, but still far below the previous season's yield, when farmers harvested 51 million tonnes of the grain.