Argentina will plant 20-25% more area with corn in 2007-2008 compared with a year earlier, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said in its weekly crop report Friday.

However, the lack of available fertilizer, seeds and fuel may lead some farmers to shift from corn this year, the Exchange said.
Recent increases in soybean prices will also likely have producers thinking twice about devoting more area to corn.

If the Exchange’s estimate is accurate, however, it would imply a larger increase in Argentina’s corn production than USDA is now estimating.

USDA projects Argentina’s 2007-2008 corn crop at 24 million metric tons, up 6.7% from 2006-2007 production of 22.5 million tons (roughly 886.5 million bushels).

According to the Exchange, farmers have harvested 98.5% of the 2006-2007 corn crop with yields expected to average 8 metric tons per hectare (127.6 bu./acre).

Editor’s note: Richard Brock, The Corn And Soybean Digest's Marketing Editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.

To see more market perspectives, visit Brock's Web site at www.brockreport.com.