Argentina 2021-22 corn harvest at 14.4%, frost poses risk to yield: BAGE

Corn harvesting in Argentina reached 14.4% of the total planted area of 7.3 million hectares, and 6.26 million mt of corn was collected as of March 30, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said March 31.

Around the same time in 2021, farmers in the country had harvested 3.7 million mt of corn, BAGE data showed.

BAGE recently cut Argentina's corn production estimate to 49 million mt for the 2021-22 marketing year, down 2 million mt from the previous forecast.

The country's first corn crop endured a lack of rains, especially in January.

The 2021-22 corn crop will be marketed from March 2022 to February 2023.

Argentina, the third-largest exporter of corn, produced 52.5 million mt of corn in MY 2020-21, according to BAGE.

BAGE also warned that frost seen in certain parts of the country in recent days could negatively impact the yield.

"Some key areas belonging to late planted corn are still going through the grain filling stages. Part of this region could see its (crop) cycle interrupted after the successive frosts recorded in recent days, which extended from the south of Buenos Aires to sectors of the extreme north of the country," BAGE said.

In Argentina, early corn is usually planted over September-October and harvested in April-May, while the late corn crop is sown in December-January and harvested in June-July.

Corn marketing by producers in the country continued to be strong with sales reaching over 670,000 mt for the week ended March 23, compared to 1.2 million mt in the previous week.

Farmers in the country have marketed 19.5 million mt of 2021-22 corn as of March 23, compared with 19.95 million mt in the previous year, data from the agriculture ministry showed.