BUENOS AIRES- Argentina's soy crop is expected to reach 52 million tonnes during the 2018-19 season, up from 50 million tonnes previously forecast, and even though 700,000 hectares was lost to hard rainfall, the Rosario Grains Exchange said late on Wednesday.
The harvest expected to start in March should be 49 percent bigger than the previous season's drought-hit crop, the exchange said in a monthly crop report. In the 2018-19 season, the Pampas grains belt has faced the opposite problem, with heavy rains swamping some non-core growing areas.
"Despite rain-related losses, the first estimates show promising yields. Early-planted fields appear to have an average national yield of 3.08 tonnes per hectare," the report said, warning that later-planted areas were not doing as well.
A recent cold front in the Pampas, an area centered in northern Buenos Aires province and the southern parts of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Cordoba - has moderated rainfall, the report said.
The country's corn crop for the season is now seen at a record 46.5 million tonnes, compared to the 44 million tonnes estimated earlier, the exchange said.
Argentina is the world's biggest exporter of soymeal livestock feed and soyoil, as well as a major supplier of raw soybeans, corn and wheat.
(Reporting by Eliana Raszewski and Maximilian Heath; Editing by Bernadette Baum) ((mitra.taj@thomsonreuters.com; +51 (1) 277-9550; Reuters Messaging: mitra.taj.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
