December 11, 2007
Argentina 06/07 corn sales up 60 percent due to high demand
Argentine export commitments of 2006/07 corn stood at 13.505 million tonnes by Dec. 7, the Agriculture Secretariat said in its latest weekly report.
This was a nearly 60-percent increase over the figure the same time last year.
Spain looks set to be the top importer this year, with volumes rising from a mere 75,000 tonnes last year to 1.5 million tonnes this year.
While imports from Chile and Algeria remained at above the 1 million-tonne level last year, Egypt doubled its imports to hit the 1-million tonne mark while Peru and South Africa both saw more than 50-percent increases to breach the 1 million-tonne mark.
Japan and South Korea, both of whom did not import any Argentine corn in 2005/06, imported 365,000 and 250,000 tonnes respectively.
Saudi Arabia's imports more than doubled from 290,000 tonnes for 2005/06 to 840,000 tonnes in 2006/07.
Malaysia reduced its corn imports from 1.5 million tonnes to 1.05 million tonnes while Philippines also reduced imports from 200,000 tonnes to 135,000 tonnes.
Argentina's government estimates the corn harvest at a record 21.8 million tonnes, while the USDA expects the country's 2006/07 exports at 15.8 million tonnes.
The Secretariat provided the following list of estimated sales commitments to date, in tonnes, compared with last year's volumes:
Argentine corn sales (selected countries, by volume)
|
|
2006/07 (tonnes) |
2005/06 |
|
|
1,525,000 |
75,000 |
|
|
1,125,000 |
1,120,000 |
|
|
1,035,000 |
680,000 |
|
|
1,040,000 |
935,000 |
|
|
1,085,000 |
480,000 |
|
|
1,030,000 |
600,000 |
|
|
840,000 |
290,000 |
|
|
1,050,000 |
1,500,000 |
|
|
945,000 |
255,000 |
|
|
365,000 |
0 |
|
|
250,000 |
0 |
|
|
135,000 |
200,000 |
|
|
110,000 |
265,000 |
|
|
10,000 |
0 |
|
|
60,000 |
0 |
|
|
140,000 |
80,000 |
|
Overall exports |
13,505,000 |
8,535,000 |
