BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Argentina left its forecastfor 2002/03 soy plantings unchanged at 12.6 million hectares, up from 11.6million hectares last year, the agriculture department said Friday.Argentina is a major producer of grains and oilseeds and the world'sNo. 3 exporter of soybeans.Government and private analysts have said strong prices and low inputcosts compared to crops like corn led farmers to plant more of theoilseed.Rains and hail in the country's main farming region also helpedincrease soy area, the department said in its monthly report."Poor weather... across much of the plains, especially in the northernand northeastern sections of Buenos Aires province, meant some farmers hadto plant soy and sunseeds instead of corn; soy and sunseeds have greaterflexibility in terms of optimal planting times," the report stated.The government lowered its forecast for sunflower seed plantings to2.37 million hectares from its estimate of 2.46 million hectares lastmonth. Sunseed area is seen rising about 15 percent from 2.05 millionhectares a year ago.Farm analysts earlier this year predicted Argentina's economic crisiscould slash total 2002/03 crop production by as much as 10 million tonnesas farmers facing a credit crunch cut back on their use of technology.Early indications for soy, wheat, corn and sunseeds, which account foraround 90 percent of total crop output, suggest those predictions may havebeen too pessimistic.Though planted area for several crops is estimated to fall, governmentforecasts for planted area for the country's four main crops show areaplanted this season growing slightly to 24.08 million hectares from 23.8million hectares in 2001/02..The department left unchanged its forecast for corn plantings at 2.96million hectares, down from 3.05 million hectares in 2001/02.The government also maintained its estimate for wheat plantings thisseason at 6.15 million hectares, down from 7.1 million hectares last year.Argentina produced a record 69.6 million tonnes of grains and oilseedslast year.