February 2, 2004
Argentina's December Corn Exports Down 10%
Argentina exported 555,012 tons of corn in December, which is 10.4% less than the 619,626 tons exported during the same month a year ago.
Spain bought the biggest portion of corn in December, accounting for 203,242 tons, compared with 24,188 tons the previous year.
Chile came in second with 147,411 tons against 91,255 the previous year.
Portugal ranked third with 58,908 tons against 37,800 a year earlier.
For all of 2003, Argentina exported 11,649,063 tons of corn, or 25% more than the 9,310,087 tons exported a year earlier.
The biggest buyer of Argentine corn in 2003 was Egypt with 1,257,619 tons against 929,671 the previous year.
Exports of corn rose as did production, which climbed to 15.03 million tons in 2002-03 compared with 14.7 million a year earlier.
The Secretariat has estimated Argentina's 2002-03 corn production at between 12 million and 12.5 million tons.
The USDA sees 2003-04 corn output at 12.5 million tons.
Argentina was the world's No. 3 corn exporter in 2003, behind China and the U.S. Analysts expect Argentina to regain the No. 2 position in 2004 as China decreases or even ceases to export corn.