BAGE cuts soybean export estimate to 50 million mt

A dearth of rain in the Las Pampas and northern areas of the country has prompted the Buenos Aires Grain exchange to cut its forecast of soybean production 1 million mt to 50 million mt, the exchange said Thursday.

It is the second successive week that BAGE has cut its estimate of soybean production. Last week it cut its estimate to 51.5 million from 54 million mt.

"The prolonged drought condition, together with high temperatures, have affected yield in 40% of the area sown. Under this scenario, the production projection drops to 50 million mt for the current campaign,” according to a weekly report by the exchange.

The revision makes the exchange the most bearish of analysts, with the USDA slashing its projection to 54 million mt from 56 million mt earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, the exchange said corn planting had now been completed on 5.4 million hectares of land, providing 39 million mt production.

The USDA estimate, released earlier in the day, was also revised downward by 3 million mt to 39 million mt.