It is expected a bumper crop surpassing 20 million metric tons this season
“I’m really optimistic”, said Ministry of AgIndustry Luis Etchevehere, when he was asked for the next wheat campaign. It happens that after a severe drought affecting de summer crops (soybeans, maize), the autumm rains are returning hopes to the beaten farmers in Las Pampas.
Off the record officers from the Ministry expects a wheat harvest surpassing 20 million metric tons this season, from a planted acreage of 6 million hectares. “Prices by January 2018 are very good”, they said.
Last week, in a meeting in the headquarters of Fertilizar (a NGO focalized to promote crop nutrition), its manager Jorge Bassi expressed that they are waiting for a large production, both in volumen and in protein content.
“There a better relationship between wheat price and fertlizers costs. This year you need 2.14 kilograms of wheat to buy a kilogram of urea, when last year you needed 2,48 kg or 3,41 kg in the average 2013/2017 period”, remarked Bassi.The ratio with monoammonium phosphate dropped in the same way.
Bassi added that in the last years it ocurred a “genetic revolution” in wheat varieties, improving yields in seedlings in the “Zona Núcleo”, a region more confortable to corn and soybean, than for wheat, where yields are ussually lowers that in the south of the country.
Top farmers, using ultimate technology, are collecting 6.000 o more kilograms per hectare growing the new varieties and appliying high dosis of fertilizers.
“But the target is to keep up the protein content, up to 10,5%, that is exporters are looking for”, stresses Bassi.
USDA agree
On latest April, USDA launched a statement saying Argentina wheat output during 2018/19 season would surpass 20 MMT and reach a new record. Exports would rise to more than 14 million metric tons.
