The Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, described today as “great news for Argentines” the latest projection of the wheat harvest for the 2022/23 campaign, which -he assured- “leaves much better expectations than expected for 2023 ”.
This is how he referred to the new estimates released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries that calculate a harvest of 13.3 million tons.
“Great news for Argentines: The wheat harvest report leaves us much better than expected for 2023”, Massa stated on his Twitter account.
In this regard, he added: “despite the drought and the unfavorable conditions, we greatly value the effort of the producers.”
The estimated 13.3 million tons of harvest -100,000 less than those forecast in the previous November report- are added to 1.73 million tons corresponding to the initial stock; a sufficient amount that will allow “both the internal supply and the exportable balance so that the private companies comply with their commitments”, according to what the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries pointed out yesterday, Juan Jose Bahillo.
In this regard, the official highlighted “the joint work between the Government and the private sector to achieve a volume of wheat that is in the average of the last decade, despite having suffered one of the most severe droughts in history”.
In a statement, the area specified that the projected amount “guarantees the internal supply of 6.5 million tons, exports of 4.75 million tons, and 0.9 million tons for seeds.”
If these new official estimates materialize, the cereal harvest, strongly affected by drought and late frosts, would fall 39.8% compared to the 2021/22 campaign; and the planted area fell 12.6% to 5.9 million hectares.
According to the monthly report of Agricultural Estimates of the Secretariat, to date 81% of the viable area has been harvested at the national level versus 80% of the previous cycle.
The threshing ended in the NOA and Chaco, with very low yields, around 10 quintals per hectare (qq/ha), being the areas most affected by the drought.
Likewise, in the provinces of Córdoba and Santa Fe, threshing “is practically finished, achieving yield values that average 18.8 and 23.2 qq/ha, respectively, while in Buenos Aires progress is 66% and yields achieved are highly variable, estimating an average of 26.8 qq/ha”.
Regarding exports for this campaign, the national portfolio estimated a total volume of 4.75 million tons, which implies a decrease compared to the previous cycle of 67% or about 9.75 million tons.
For their part, private production projections were below the official ones updated yesterday to 13.3 million tons.
Thus, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange (BCBA) estimated a harvest of 12.4 million tons, while the Rosario Stock Exchange (BCR) located its forecast at 11.5 million tons.
