Argentinian production of soybean is to hit a five-year low of 52 million mt in the 2017/18 crop year, as yields are expected to fall to 13% to 2.9 tonnes per hectare. A lack of rainfall over the past two months has been the main reason for the yield write-down, which will see production fall 9% below the previous crop year and 8% on the previous five-year average. The board expects the planting area to be 18.5 million hectares, although that figure is down on the 18.8 million hectares that were expected to be planted due to a lack of rain. The damaging effect of the moisture deficit is not limited to the smaller area planted, but the emergence of seedlings in these conditions have already forced us to discount potential yields in the new campaign.