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By Maximilian Heath
BUENOS AIRES, March 23 (Reuters) – Argentina’s Buenos Aires grains exchange maintained its 2022/2023 production forecasts for both soy and corn on Thursday, but cautioned further cuts were possible with yields on the first batches of soy coming in below expectations.
The exchange, which has been forced by a historic drought hitting the country to repeatedly sharply cut soybean and corn harvest forecasts, held its soy estimate at 25 million tonnes and its corn outlook at 36 million tonnes.
“Rains in the central regions put a brake on the deterioration of the crops,” the exchange said, adding in a separate report that over the next week the north and center of the Pampas region would get moderate to very abundant rainfall.
Argentina is the world’s top exporter of soy oil and meal and the No. 3 for corn. However, the worst drought in over 60 years has hammered production of wheat, corn and main cash-crop soy, likely to see its worst harvest in over 20 years.
The exchange said that yields observed on early harvested soy were below “historical lows and below the initially expected returns. If this trend continues, it could affect our production estimate of 25 million tonnes.”
On corn, it added the forecast could also be cut further if yields were found to be below expectations.
(Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Sarah Morland and Jonathan Oatis)
((Kylie.Madry@thomsonreuters.com;))
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