BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--Argentine farmers had planted 67% of thecountry's 2004-05 soybean crop by Friday, the latest AgricultureSecretariat data show.This puts the pace of planting up from a year ago, when 57% of areahad been planted.Total planted area this year is seen at 14.2 million hectares,compared with 14.235 million a year earlier.The crop is evolving normally in most areas.As of Friday, farmers had planted 9,497,670 million hectares.Stable climatic conditions and adequate moisture levels have allowedthe crop to develop smoothly in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Cordoba,the Secretariat said. These two provinces account for almost half ofArgentina's soybean production.The Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange sees the 2004-05 area at 14.7million hectares. As of Saturday, some 10,043,000 hectares have beenplanted, according to the exchange.Neither the exchange nor the Secretariat has formally forecast 2004-05soybean production. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sees Argentina's2004- 05 soy output at 39 million tons.

CORN

Also as of Friday, farmers had planted 81% of the 2004-05 corn crop,Secretariat data show. This puts the pace of planting up from a year ago,when farmers had planted 78% of the crop.The Secretariat expects farmers to plant 3.202 million hectares, upfrom 2.856 million a year ago.As of Friday, they had planted 2,594,929 hectares.The crop is evolving normally in most places, the Secretariat said.The exchange said that farmers had planted 90% of the crop as ofSaturday. The exchange sees the area of exportable corn at 2.5 millionhectares.Argentina produced 13.1 million tons of corn in 2003-04, according tothe exchange. The Secretariat has estimated output during this period at13.5 million tons.The U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecast 2004-05 Argentineoutput at 15.5 million tons.

SUNSEED

Farmers had also planted 95% of the 2004-05 sunseed crop by Friday,the Secretariat said.This is up from 92% the previous year.Total area this year is seen at 1.859 million hectares, compared with1.835 million a year ago.As of Friday, about 1,759,739 hectares had been planted.The cereals exchange said that as of Saturday farmers had planted98.6% of the crop. Some 1,893,300 hectares had been planted by Saturday,according to the exchange.In 2003-04, Argentina produced 3.15 million tons of sunseed, accordingto the exchange. The Secretariat put 2003-04 production at 3.24 milliontons.The USDA has forecast 2004-05 sunseed production at around 3.4 milliontons.