March 19, 2008

 

Argentina's January soy crush up 25 percent on-year

 

 

Argentina crushed 2,94 million tonnes of soy in January, up 25 percent from the 2,36 million tonnes turned into soyoil and soymeal during the same month last year, according to the Agriculture Secretariat's latest data.

 

The higher crush follows a 10.8 percent increase in 2007, when 36.27 million tonnes of soy were crushed compared with 32.73 million tonnes in 2006.

 

In January, processors squeezed 572,136 tonnes of soyoil out of the beans, compared to 448,917 tonnes produced in January 2007.

 

Soymeal output in January totaled 2,26 million tonnes, up from 1.81 million tonnes in 2006.

 

The increased crush follows record soy output last season, when favorable weather conditions and expanded area boosted production.

 

Argentina grew 47.6 million tonnes of soy in 2006-07, up 17.5 percent from 40.5 million tonnes a year earlier, according to the Agriculture Secretariat.

 

The country is the world's leading soymeal and soyoil exporter, but trails the US and Brazil in soy exports.

 

Sunseeds

 

Sunseed crushing on the other hand was down nearly 11 percent from 269,363 tonnes in January 2007 to 239,943 tonnes in January 2008. Dry weather cut sunseed yields last season, with farmers growing 3.5 million tonnes in 2006-07, compared to 3.8 million tonnes a year earlier.

 

Subsequently, sunseed oil production also retreated 9.8 percent to 97,771 tonnes.