MORE HEAVY RAINS IN ARGENTINE GRAIN AREAS Heavy rains fell again in Argentina's main grain growing areas in the week to yesterday, trade sources said. Rains fell heaviest early in the week, and in particularly high volume in Buenos Aires province, Cordoba, La Pampa and Santa Fe provinces. Rainfall totalled between 20 and 290 mm in Buenos Aires, heaviest in western sectors of the province, 20 to 145 mm in La Pampa, 25 to 120 mm in Cordoba, and 10 to 75 mm in Santa Fe. Rainfall was lighter in other provinces. Rainfall totalled from five to 50 mm in Corrientes, five to 31 mm in San Luis, five to 30 mm in Entre Rios, three to 20 mm in Misiones, 11 to 17 mm in Formosa and one to eight mm in Chaco. Growers said it was still too early to tell whether the rains had damaged crops, though they said maize and sunflower crops may have suffered. Harvesting of both those crops and sorghum was paralysed by the bad weather. For harvesting to resume as normal, the rains would have to stop long enough for the soil to dry and allow farm machinery to operate. The rains caused flooding in western and northwestern Buenos Aires, as more than 750 mm have fallen in some areas there since February 23 while the annual average is 1,200 mm. Flooded areas total between 1.2 and 1.5 mln hectares, Buenos Aires province governor Alejandro Armendariz said after flying over the flooded area. Agriculture Secretary Ernesto Figueras said only 500,000 hectares of the area now flooded had been planted, and that 200,000 to 300,000 hectares could be lost. Growers said large parts of the flooded areas were not planted because they are low-lying and flood easily. Trade sources said it was certain crops were damaged by the heavy rains but it was too early to tell the exact extent of the damage. They said it was likely rain combined with high winds uprooted many sunflower and maize plants. The sunflower harvest moved forward in the centre and south of Cordoba and Santa Fe and got underway in a few isolated areas of northern Buenos Aires. Growers have harvested between 15 and 18 pct of total planted area, up from seven to nine pct a week ago. Estimates of the total volume of the sunflower crop were revised downward in light of the bad weather. Estimates for total crop ranged from 2.3 to 2.6 mln tonnes, down from 2.4 to 2.7 mln tonnes estimated last week and down 34.1 to 41.5 pct from last year's record harvest of 4.1 mln tonnes. Maize harvesting also advanced, reaching between 13 and 15 pct of total planted area compared to seven to nine pct a week ago. The maize harvest is expected to total between 10 and 10.2 mln tonnes, down from the 10 to 10.4 mln tonnes estimated a week ago. Last year's maize harvest totalled 12.8 mln tonnes, according to official figures. Soybean production estimates were revised downward, to 7.8 to 8.2 mln tonnes compared to estimates of eight to 8.4 mln tonnes a week ago. Last year's soybean harvest totalled 7.1 mln tonnes, according to official figures. Sorghum harvesting moved slowly forward, reaching between four and six pct of total planted area, compared to two to four pct a week ago. Sorghum production estimates remained steady at 3.2 to 3.5 mln tonnes, down 16.7 to 22 pct from the 4.1 to 4.2 mln tonnes produced in the last harvest.