Argentine producers have sold 26.3 million tonnes of soybeans from the 2020/21 season, the Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday, marking a 7.7% reduction in sales versus the same point in the previous season.
At this time last year, 28.5 million tonnes of the oilseed had been sold, according to a report with data through July 28.
Farmers say they are hanging onto more soy due to recent instability in the local currency, fearing that if they sell and bank pesos, the value of those savings will fall. Argentine grains are priced in U.S. dollars and tend to hold their value.
The 2020/21 soybean harvest in Argentina ended in June with output of 43.5 million tonnes, according to the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange, after a 49 million-tonne crop in 2019/20.
Foreign exchange from agricultural exports is essential for Argentina’s battered economy, which has been in a state of stagflation for two years, a situation that has been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
For soybeans in the 2021/22 crop year, whose sowing begins in October in Argentina, there have already been sales of 1.3 million tonnes, below the 1.5 million registered on the same date in the cycle that has just ended, according to official data.
The government said in the report that 2020/21 corn sales had reached 35.8 million tonnes, about 3.1 million tonnes more than those registered by the same date last year.
The exchange expects a 2020/21 corn harvest of 48 million tonnes. It estimates that 81.4% of the harvest is in so far.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)