Australia’s BoM declares end to La Nina, ENSO returns to neutral

The La Nina weather phenomenon that has dogged Argentina’s corn and soybean crop has come to an end, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology declared Tuesday.

Temperature readings in the southern Pacific Ocean indicate the El Nino Southern Oscillation has returned to neutral conditions, the bureau said.

The end may signal a change to the extreme dryness that has damaged corn and soybean crops in Argentina and parts of southern Brazil crops as well as threatening South Africa’s corn harvest.

“Most models indicate that ENSO-neutral is the most likely scenario through the southern hemisphere autumn and into winter,” the BoM notes.

However, the change is likely too late to save the crops with analysts at the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange (BAGE) stating last week that the bulk of the crop has already been damaged.

According to BAGE, Argentina’s 2017/18 corn crop size will be 34 million mt, with the soybean crop at 42 million mt.

That compares with a 2016/17 crop size of 41 million mt and 57.8 million mt respectively.

The conditions that indicate the formation of La Nina type weather, or its counterpart El Nino, are typically first discernible in the waters to the north of Australia.