The soybean harvest has been significantly delayed for the past two weeks due to the agricultural sector strike against the GoA’s March 11 implementation of floating export taxes.Logistical problems, as well as pressure from protesting farmers, dissuaded many producers from harvesting soybeans.However, on April 2, the agricultural sector called a “truce” with the government for a period of 30 days, during which farmers will begin the harvest in full-force.Post contacts estimate that by the end of the week, around 15 percent of the entire crop harvest will be completed – compared to an average year’s progress of 26 to 28 percent for this time of year.Farmers are opting to harvest soybeans while leaving the remaining corn crop to be collected afterward due to a higher risk of yield losses to soybeans.They are concerned that rains could impede the soy harvest and degrade yields, while those risks are much lower for corn.
Post increases its production forecast to 47.5 million tons.Several producers are reporting higher yields than initially expected.Particularly, in the central-south of Santa Fe province, those farmers that have harvested are reporting significantly higher yields than were initially expected for this campaign (around 40 quintales per hectare compared to an average of around 36).Other indications show that yields across the country, generally, will be slightly higher than expected and, as such, give strong support for raising the forecast.Crushing operations were severely affected by the agricultural strike.Post contacts indicate that many plants were operating at reduced capacity, or completely stopped, due to a lack of stocks.They estimate that crushing output for the period covering the 20-day strike was roughly 30 percent of normal operations.Post has revised its crush number downward by 500,000 tons as a result.