January 18, 2006

Argentina's soy crush up 7.7 percent November 2005
 

Argentina's soybean crush totalled 2 million tonnes in November 2005, up 7.7 percent from 1.9 million tonnes a year earlier, the latest Agriculture Secretariat data show.

Analysts say crush will 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 a year ago, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). 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.

Argentina produced 391,772 tonnes of soyoil in November, up 8.1 percent from the 362,409 tonnes crushed a year ago.

Soy pellet output in November totalled 1,582,664 tonnes, or 4.3 percent more than the 1,517,303 tonnes mashed a year earlier.