09/09/04 - In Brazil & Argentina several major oilseed and grain growingareas are still very dry. Early plantings could not be carried out.Farmers wait for the arrival of the much needed rainfall but forecasts donot provide much hope forthis to occur until Sept 18.In Brazil hardly any rain was noted in the first half of this week in MatoGrosso as well as in neighbouring states. Mato Grosso is the biggestsoybean producing state in Brazil, but early plantings, normally scheduledfor the first half of September, cannot be carried out. It is still veryearly in the season, but the very dry conditions during the last 6-8 weeksare of great concern. Mato Grosso accounted for 24% of total Braziliansoybean plantings last year. It may be difficult this year to accomplishthe intended boost in soybean plantings by 0.6 Mn ha in that state.Dryness is also of concern in most other Brazilian soybean growingregions.In Argentina the northern half of the country is still very dry. Someisolated beneficial rain arrived in parts of SantaFe and Entre Rios on Sept 7 and 8, but moisture large deficits stillpersist.