Argentina’s bumper corn crop likely to top record 60 mln tons, grains exchange analyst

Argentina’s 2023/24 corn harvest has a “very good chance” of exceeding 60 million metric tons, a record high, a senior analyst at the Rosario grains exchange told Reuters, signaling further potential upgrades to the production forecast.

Argentina, the world’s no. 3 corn exporter, is seeing the crop boosted by strong rainfall due to the El Niño climate phenomenon after the last harvestwas hammered by drought. The Rosario exchange’s current official forecastis 59 million tons.

The harvested is on track to be a historic record, topping the 52 million tons recorded in 2020/21, a boost for the embattled government of new President Javier Milei, which is contending with depleted state reserves and high debt loads.

“Week after week we keep getting water,” said Cristian Russo, the head of agricultural estimates at Rosario exchange said, in reference to the good rains that the farming regions of Argentina have been receiving for months.

“Argentina is heading towards a large corn and also soybean harvest,” Russo said, mentioning Argentina’s other main crop. Last week the exchange raised its estimate for the 2023/24 soybean harvest by 2 million tons, to 52 million tons total.

Argentina is normally the world’s top exporter of processed soy oil and meal, though lost its crown last year to neighboring producer Brazil after its soy crop was cut in half by drought.

Tags: corn, Argentina