ARGENTINA (9 February)
Harvesting of the 2003wheat crop has been completed and output is officially estimated at about 13.2 million tonnes, 7.3 percent higher than last year's output. This mainly reflects beneficial rains in the last months of 2003 in the main growing areas of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Entre Rios, that more than compensated for the reduced outputs in Cordoba and La Pampa, affected by a prolonged dry-spell during the growing season. Planting of 2004 maize crop was completed by late January and the area is provisionally estimated at 2.8 million hectares. Sowing of the 2004 paddy crop was completed by late December and the total area planted is provisionally estimated at 169 000 hectares, an increase of 25 percent compared to the previous year. Production of paddy in 2003 was 718 000 tonnes, continuing the declining trend from the record level of 1.6 million tonnes in 1999.