BUENOS AIRES, March 12 (Reuters) - Intense rains in Argentina are beginning to leave the soil in key agricultural areas too wet, which could bring difficulties when the time comes to harvest the 2023/24 soybean crop, a climate specialist said on Tuesday, though the conditions could be good for the 2024/25 wheat crop.
The heavy rains also caused flooding in parts of the city of Buenos Aires, with residents wading through up to waist-high waters and storms bringing "a lightning strike every second," meteorologists said.
In the past 24 hours, Argentina's main agricultural regions have seen been between 15 mm and 75 mm of rain, according to the national meteorological service, which predicts more over the next few days.
Growers in the Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Entre Rios provinces have seen between 140 mm and 150 mm of rains so far this month, above average, meteorologist German Heinzenknecht said in an interview, adding that the areas are likely to see similar amounts in the rest of March.
"We're going to potentially close out March with excessive wetness in a large part of the core agricultural area," said Heinzenknecht, a meteorologist at the Applied Climatology Consulting Firm (CCA).
"The harvest in some sectors might not be so easy due to this issue," he added.
In the coming weeks, as the Southern Hemisphere summer turns to autumn, farmers will begin to harvest soybeans, which are largely turned into oil and flour. Argentina is a top global supplier of both.
With high soil humidity and combines unable to trudge through the mud, soy plants could be affected by their pods opening and losing the beans inside, or the beans could begin to sprout or fungi could begin to grow.
"The important thing now is for the rains to not keep going in April," Heinzenknecht said, adding that less precipitation is on the forecast for the month.
The Rosario grains exchange estimates the 2023/24 soybean harvest at 49.5 million metric tons.
GOOD NEWS FOR WHEAT
While the abundant rains could hinder the soybean harvest, they're good for wheat planting, which begins in May.
"The outlook is favorable, because we have to replenish the soil, we have to keep it loaded (with water) so that during the fall there are not problems with wheat sowing," Heinzenknecht said.
Argentina is a major exporter of wheat. Last season, a drought caused a smaller wheat harvest, which closed out at 14.5 million tons, according to the Rosario exchange. (Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Leslie Adler)
