Wheat output from Argent­ina, the world’s number four exporter, is set to fall by more than 37 per cent in 2008-09 as slumping commodities prices, state regulation and a combination of drought, frost and searing heat in farming regions have battered prospects for the agricultural sector.

The area sown with wheat will be at a 30-year low and producers’ groups say this will be compounded by a drop of up to 25 per cent in the 2008-09 harvest of corn, of which Argentina is the world’s number two exporter.