Country News
Argentina: Argentina’s 2013/14 corn harvest has been predicted by Rosario Grains at 23.9 MMT, reports Reuters. The corn crop had been previously estimated at 23 MMT.
Further on Argentina, Reuters reports that as of May 12, Argentine port workers in the grain exporting port of Rosario have ended a strike that began on May 8.
France: France’s agricultural ministry has released a new estimate reducing total corn acreage by 5.5 percent to 1.67 million hectares, according to Reuters. Despite this reduction, the total area set aside for corn production will remain 1.8 percent higher than the five-year average.
Ukraine: The Ministry of Agriculture has announced that as of May 13 farmers have planted 4.4 million hectares of corn, which is 86 percent of the expected area, reports Reuters. Farmers are expected to plant a total of 5.136 million hectares of corn this year, which is an increase over the 4.8 million hectares sown in 2013. This announcement has quieted fears from some analysts that Ukraine would suffer a sharp decrease (up to 20 percent) in total corn acreage due to reduced access to financing for many Ukrainian farmers.