BUENOS AIRES – The El Niño weather phenomenon is unlikely to bring heavy rains to Argentina’s agricultural area before September, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said on Wednesday, meaning the drought-hit soil will likely see a slow recovery.
Argentina is one of the world’s top food producers, but dry conditions over much of the past year have taken a toll on its key agricultural regions, delaying its soy and corn crops and halving last season’s wheat output.
The El Niño phenomenon, which usually causes higher-than-usual rainfall in Argentina’s main agricultural provinces, is expected to begin in coming weeks, the exchange said.
However, its rains are unlikely to begin before the southern spring, which begins at the end of September, the exchange said.
El Niño’s heavier rains will help replacing the low levels of moisture in the soil caused by the drought.
“The replacement of soil moisture will be very slow in the area of greatest activity of the polar winds, affecting the west, the south and part of the center of Argentina,” the exchange said in its climate monthly report.
Argentina’s 2022/23 soybean crop is forecast at 22.5 million tonnes, almost half of what was produced in the previous season due to the lack of rain.
Wheat planting area for the 2023/24 season, whose sowing in Argentina begins in the second half of May, is expected at 6.7 million hectares, slightly up from the 6.1 million planted in the previous season, the exchange said.
(Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Sandra Maler)
