BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA — The yield estimate for Argentina’s soybean crop in marketing year 2022-23 has been revised downward to its lowest point in 34 years by the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture.

In its latest Global Agricultural Information Network report, the FAS forecast yield for this year’s crop at 1.8 tonnes per hectare, down from 2.76 tonnes last year and well below the record of 3.33 tonnes in 2018-19. If realized, it would be the lowest yield since 1988-89 when output was 1.63 tonnes per hectare.

It noted that “2022-23 was the third dry year in a row and, unlike the prior two seasons when rains arrived in time to save the harvest, the combination of a lack of starting soil moisture, poor rains and high heat in the key months of January and February led to widespread yield declines across central Argentina, the most important soybean production region.”

As a result, the FAS is projecting soybean production in Argentina this year to be the lowest in 24 years at 23.9 million tonnes, which means the country will have to import a record 11 million tonnes of soybeans. The report said the imports primarily will come from Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia, but could come from as far away as the United States.