La Niña is set to deliver drought to Argentina's soybean crop

La Niña is set to wreak havoc during Argentina’s upcoming summer, when soybean and corn plants will be growing across the Pampas farm belt.

Precious little rain will fall in January and February across much of the key growing region because of the weather pattern, according to maps in a Buenos Aires Grain Exchange report. Dryness curbs plant yields and, in turn, crop production in the South American nation. March will be wetter, “but we’ll continue to observe large pockets of drought,” bourse climatologist Eduardo Sierra wrote in the report.

Nevertheless, rains forecast for December should provide fields with moisture before the drought gets into full stride, as well as drive a recovery in river levels along Argentina’s chief shipping route.

Weather forecasts are watched closely by crop traders and Argentina’s government. For traders, that’s because Argentina is the world’s biggest exporter of soy meal and oil, and a top corn supplier. For government, harvests are a vital source of billions of dollars desperately needed at the Central Bank.