November 21, 2023

Drought upsets Argentina's soybean crushing in September

Argentina's soybean crushing in September 2023 reached just 1.9 million tonnes, representing the lowest level of crushing for the month since the 2000/01 season, according to latest official data published by the country's Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.

A historic drought in Argentina was blamed for its impact on soybean production in the current season.

The accumulated crushing of soybean in the first half of the season totaled just 15.9 million tonnes, the lowest level in 18 years.

The combination of a low harvest together with a large advance in the commercialisation of production means that the availability of soybeans to be sold for the remainder of the season is scarce, only 2.7 million tonnes, as indicated in the last weekly report.

As a consequence, Argentina will depend on its capacity to import oilseeds to keep its factories running.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC), foreign purchases of soybeans totaled 8.8 million tonnes during the first nine months of the year, reaching historically high levels.

In July, with only seven months of accumulated imports, Argentina had already surpassed its 2018 annual record volume of imports of 6.6 million tonnes.

- Rosario Stock Exchange