July 13, 2006

 

Argentina's May soy crush up 21 percent on-year

 

 

Argentina's soybean crush totalled 3,343,470 tonnes in May, up 21 percent from 2,749,303 a year earlier, the latest Agriculture Secretariat data show.

 

Argentina produced 621,395 tonnes of soyoil in May, up about 26 percent from the 492,244 tonnes crushed a year ago.

 

Soy pellet output in May totalled 2,600,539 tonnes, up 20.5 percent more than the 2,158,916 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 2005/06 harvest likely totalled a record 41.3 million tonnes, up from 39 million tonnes a year ago, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

 

In recent years major oilseed companies have embarked on plans to spend more than US$800 million to build ports and boost daily crush capacity to around 160,000 tonnes by 2007.

 

Daily capacity now totals about 132,000 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 soy crush data as measured in tonnes:

 

Product        2006         2005

 

Soybeans

 

January      2,371,186    1,986,404

February    1,927,968    1,799,936

March        2,267,059    1,924,887

April          2,953,948    2,247,994

May           3,343,470    2,749,303

June                         2,669,452

July                          2,860,824

August                      2,591,338

September                2,774,658

October                    2,420,568

November                 2,075,525

December                 2,585,756

 

Soyoil

 

January       449,892      379,267

February     370,841      342,118

March         433,050      372,559

April           557,757      429,975

May            621,395      492,244

June                          493,587

July                           538,851

August                       487,836

September                 520,780

October                      457,204

November                  391,772

December                  488,764

 

Soy Pellets

 

January     1,832,884    1,567,222

February    1,516,422    1,421,760

March        1,768,485    1,484,797

April          2,291,752    1,761,795

May           2,600,539    2,158,916

June                        2,103,861

July                         2,324,677

August                     2,012,131

September               2,165,854

October                   1,896,355

November                1,582,664

December                2,032,774