February 16, 2006

 

Argentina's December soy crush up 56 percent

 

 

Argentina's soybean crush totalled 2,585,756 tonnes in December, up almost 56 percent from 1,659,187 tonnes a year earlier, the latest Agriculture Secretariat data show.

 

Argentina produced 488,764 tonnes of soyoil in December, up 57 percent from the 311,611 tonnes crushed a year ago.

 

Soy pellet output in December totalled 2,032,774 tonnes, about 56 percent more than the 1,304,796 tonnes mashed a year earlier.

 

Analysts expect crush to keep rising over the next couple of years as soybean production rises and crushers boost processing capacity to accompany the bigger harvests.

 

The 2004/05 harvest totalled a record 39 million tonnes, up from 33 million tonnes a year ago, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The USDA has pegged the 2005/06 crop at 40.5 million tonnes.

 

Aceitera General Deheza, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus and other companies are spending upwards of US$900 million to build ports and boost daily crush capacity to as much as 160,000 tonnes by 2007. Daily capacity now totals 100,000 tonnes, according to the Rosario Cereals Exchange.

 

By the end of 2006, Argentina could be crushing more than 40 million tonnes of oilseed annually, according to an estimate by the Exchange's department of economic studies.

 

The following tables show Argentina's main oilseed crush data as measured in tonnes:

 

Product        2005         2004

 

Soybeans

January   1,986,404    1,971,086

February  1,799,936    1,371,680

March      1,924,887     1,525,764

April        2,247,994     2,195,563

May         2,749,303     2,517,329

June        2,669,452     2,403,436

July         2,860,824     2,269,980

August     2,591,338     2,145,475

September 2,774,658    2,121,037

October     2,420,568     2,122,414

November  2,075,525    1,926,535

December  2,585,756    1,659,187

 

Soyoil

January     379,267      374,317

February    342,118      264,247

March       372,559      301,091

April         429,975      416,018

May          492,244      467,369

June          493,587      446,464

July           538,851      423,518

August       487,836      403,404

September  520,780      402,173

October     457,204      397,097

November   391,772      362,409

December   488,764      311,611

 

Soy Pellets

January   1,567,222    1,549,115

February  1,421,760    1,086,938

March      1,484,797    1,225,864

April       1,761,795    1,721,128

May        2,158,916    1,948,095

June       2,103,861    1,890,650

July        2,324,677    1,771,027

August     2,012,131    1,672,930

September 2,165,854    1,670,897

October   1,896,355    1,668,694

November 1,582,664    1,517,303

December 2,032,774    1,304,796