Argentina’s corn crop in the 2024-25 marketing year is projected to decline due to disease and dry conditions, according to a report from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture.
The FAS forecasts output at 48 million tonnes, down 6% from last year’s total. The agency pointed to two factors that are impacting farmers’ planting decisions: the devastating effects of corn stunt during the past crop season and dry conditions for planting early corn in the country’s corn belt.
“Most industry projections set corn harvested area at about 6 million hectares, with roughly 20% of the planting already completed,” the FAS said. “The loss in area will primarily be covered by soybeans, which demand a significantly lower investment per hectare due to the inferior seed cost and significantly less fertilizer use.”
Due to the smaller anticipated crop, corn exports for Argentina, the world’s third largest exporter behind the United States and Brazil, were revised 1 million tonnes lower (to 35 million tonnes) by the FAS from its projection earlier this year. The revised export total still would be 1 million tonnes higher than in 2023-24 and the highest mark since 2020-21.
The FAS also forecast a 13% increase in Argentine wheat production from the previous year to 18 million tonnes, which would be the highest total in five years. South America’s largest wheat exporter also is projected to increase shipments in 2024-25 by 40% year-on-year to 11.5 million tonnes.
