As the soybean crop progresses, plot yields are not finding ground and production estimates continue to fall. The Buenos Aires Wheat Exchange has once again cut agricultural production by 1.5 million tons and expects a volume of 21 million tons, 52% less than in the previous cycle.
In this context, the Argentine Chamber of the Petroleum Industry (Ciara) defended the temporary importation of beans as they allow factories to be kept open.
According to the Argentine Commercial Exchange report published by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) it is reported that in April the import of soybeans, even broken, excluded for planting, was 708 million dollars, the 166 % more than in the same month of 2022.
And in the first quarter, continuing with the same document, the country bought from Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, the accumulated amount reached 1,810 million dollars, an increase of 187% compared to the same period last year.
In this regard, Ciara assured him the temporary import of soybeans helped to reduce the decline in installed capacity utilization in the country due to the lower harvest due to drought and has called for policies that promote exports and added value.
It should be noted that soybeans it is imported in official dollars AND It’s just to produce by-products -flour and oil-, with the aim of enhancing the grain.
According to chamber numbers, Argentina is expected to import about 10 million tons this year against the 4.6 million tons of the average of the last 5 years. which would make it the second largest importing country in the world, according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), obviously behind China, which buys nearly 100 million tons annually.
On the social network Twitter, Ciara recalled that the industrial hub located mainly in Gran Rosario has an installed capacity of 70 million tons per year.
However, the entity has warned that in 2023 it could only process about 27.5 million tons, a figure that could be lower if the soybean crop continues to deepen its slump. And makes it the lowest in 18 years.
According to Clare, “the lack of raw material has turned on all the alarm lights in the mill. For this year, we calculate that if there is no temporary admission of soybeans from neighboring countries, the industry would cease to function for many months,” he said.
Therefore, the chamber stated that the expected increase in temporary purchases of soybeans They help maintain industrial employment in the country and keep the main industry that generates foreign currency alive..
“We must emerge from this drought with more production, with a policy without export restrictions and without penalizing the added value of the country’s main export hub”, concluded Ciara.
Source: Clarin
