MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine wheat crop, one of the least productive in recent history

The 11,5 million tons of this year's harvest is half the 2021/22 crop, according to the Rosario Grains Exchange.

The Argentine wheat crop, 2022/23 is again suffering the consequences of a prolonged drought and lack of sufficient rain, which means that the overall estimate volume has again been reduced by 300,000 tons to a total of 11,5 million tons, according to the Rosario Grains Exchange.

This is half the 2021/22 crop, which was a record, and the contraction this season was not greater because the province of Entre Rios surprised with some extraordinary yields.

The Rosario Grains Exchange also pointed out that the main losses happened in the rich fields of the provinces of Cordoba, Buenos Aires and Santa Fe, where in only a month estimates were down 300,000 tons. With domestic consumption of some nine million tons, surplus for exports has been considerably reduced.

“We had an average yield fo 2,300 kilos per hectare, the lowest recorded since 2010”, pointed out the Rosario Grains Exchange. But in Entre Rios yields were excellent and helped the overall average. Temperature played a crucial role, 15 Celsius during the maturing period with abundant humidity. And this despite a month of November with insufficient humidity and consecutive frosts, but Entre Rios prevailed and had a production of 3,900 kilos per hectare“.

Cordoba on the other hand continues with its production disaster. Compared to the 3,600 kilos per hectares of last year, this season it is down to 1,500 kilos, following on the effects of frosts. Something similar can be said of the Buenos Aires province. Last year Santa Fe province had a yield close to 3,900 kilos per hectare, but nowadays the average is hardly 2,200 kilos per hectare”, concluded the Rosario Grains Exchange.