By Maximilian Heath
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – A deadly summer storm over the weekend in Argentina has helped quench crops still reeling from a historic drought, a meteorologist said on Monday, although the storm paused operations at a key grains port.
The intense storm, which began on Saturday in the south of Buenos Aires province, left at least 13 people dead in the port town of Bahia Blanca before moving north and bringing much-needed rains to the country’s core agriculture zone in northern Buenos Aires and in the south and center of Santa Fe province.
Argentina’s farming core has received 60-90 millimeters (2.4-3.5 inches) of rain since the weekend began, according to the Rosario Grains Exchange, which forecast more rains over the next two days.
Recent months in Argentina, a top global exporter of soybean oil and meal and a major corn and wheat exporter, have been wetter than normal, after a drought last year pummeled crop outputs.
The soil in key farming areas “needed a lot of water, and it now has it,” German Heinzenknecht, a meteorologist at Applied Climatology Consulting (CCA), told Reuters.
“Looking forward you have soil that’s saturated,” he said.
Ongoing soy and corn planting will face some delays because of the storm, said Heinzenknecht, who added that strong wind gusts could cause losses to some crops in southern Buenos Aires province that are ready for harvest, particularly wheat.
Operations at the Bahia Blanca port were “practically stopped” on Monday due to the storm, which packed 150-kilometer-per-hour (93-mile-per-hour) winds, said Carolina Volonte, a representative for Bahia Blanca’s grains exchange.
“Damages are being evaluated and we will have to see how it can get up and running in the coming days,” Volonte said.
Reuters did not receive comment from the Bahia Blanca port about the port’s operations.
(Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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