July 24, 2012

Argentinean corn growers appeal on lifting exports cap

Pledging to boost production by as much as 60% should the government free them to tap rising foreign demand for the grain, corn producers in Argentina are urging the government to lift a cap on exports.

Growers will produce as much as 31 million tonnes of corn in the 2012-13 season if a 15 million-tonne cap on exports is lifted, said the Argentine Association of Regional Consortia for Agricultural Experimentation. Production in the current 2011-12 crop year is estimated at 19.3 million tonnes, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said on July 15.

Farmers in the country, the world's third-largest corn exporter, are urging the government to let them take advantage of the worst drought in half a century in the US to boost exports as Chinese demand grows. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has limited exports to ensure Argentina's domestic consumption, which the USDA estimates at 8.6 million tonnes in the next season.

"This should be the corn year for Argentina," the association, known as Crea, said on Monday (July 23) in an e-mailed statement. "Should the government announce the entire lifting of corn export quotas, farmers would have enough confidence to increase their planting."

Argentine this month increased the quota from 10.5 million tonnes.