Argentina’s weekly farmer sales surge for corn but fall for soybeans

Soybeans farmers and sellers loosing incentive to sell crops

Argentine farmer sales for new crop corn rose sharply in the week ending July 27, but sales of new and old crop soybeans slid further as the economic incentive to sell the crop has failed to gain traction among bean farmers and sellers.

Corn

Farmer sales of the 2022-23 corn crop due to be planted later this year surged 126% on the week ending July 27 and came in at 86,000 tonnes, while sales of the newly harvested 2021-22 crop rose 19% on the week to 1.28 million tonnes.

On a cumulative basis, a total of 3.36 million tonnes of the 2022-23 crop has been sold to date, down 36% from the same time last year.

Meanwhile, sales of the newly harvested 2021-22 crop came to 34.5 million tonnes, down 4% on the year.

Export license applications for the 2022-23 crop were at 5.9 million tonnes, up 41% from the same time last year.

Export applications for the 2021-22 crop were at 32.4 million tonnes as of July 20, up 4% on the year.

Soybeans

A drop in new and old crop soybean sales was registered in the week to July 27, with 2022-23 crop sales dropping 48%, while sales of the newly harvested 2021-22 crop were 6% down on the prior week.

The fall in forward sales reflects the continuing lack of economic confidence from farmers to commit their crops despite a new financial instrument targeting soybean farmers and sellers.

Weekly soybean farmer sales of the crop that is yet to be planted fell 48% on the week, coming at 58,000 tonnes.

Sales of the newly harvested 2021-22 crop fell 6% on the week, coming in at 415,000 tonnes.

Sales of the 2021-22 crop remain about 20% below the pace of sales done at the same time last year, with only 21.31 million tonnes of beans sold.

There were no export license applications for the 2022-23 crop, while export licenses for the 2021-22 crop came to 1.45 million tonnes, well below the 4.4 million tonnes applied for a year ago.

Wheat

Farmer sales of the 2022-23 wheat crop fell further to 27,000 tonnes in the week ending July 27, while sales of the 2021-22 crop rose 31% on the week to 176,000 tonnes.

A total of 5.13 million tonnes of the 2022-23 crop has been sold for the season to July 27, up 16% on the year, while sales of the 2021-22 crop came to 21.22 million tonnes.

This is up 46% from the previous year.

Keep up to date with the latest grains and oilseeds news, price trends and forecasts by visiting Fastmarkets Agriculture.

What to read next
US animal fats and oils markets remained under pressure on Thursday June 25, though the pace of declines began to moderate after nearly two weeks of broad-based selling driven by improving feedstock availability, incoming imports and weaker soybean oil values.
In the latest short episode of Fast Forward, Fastmarkets grain market reporter Masha Belikova explores the key forces shaping wheat pricing across the Black Sea region and why prices have remained unexpectedly firm despite strong crop expectations.
The US Department of Energy’s release of an updated model under the revised 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit framework for Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (45ZCF-GREET) on Friday June 12 provides additional clarity on how feedstock economics could evolve, improving the outlook for soybean oil and canola while largely preserving the competitiveness of waste-based feedstocks such as used cooking oil (UCO), tallow and distillers corn oil (DCO).
US wheat futures and Euronext contracts were mixed on Tuesday June 16, with most US contracts moving lower, while Chicago soft red winter wheat futures posted gains. Euronext contracts also moved higher during the session. Global cash markets remained subdued, with limited activity as buyers largely stayed on the sidelines. Black Sea wheat prices are starting to trend lower under seasonal harvest pressure, while Australia, Europe and Argentina were broadly steady.
Soybean and soybean meal futures continued to ride on the coattails of the bullish National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) crush report on Tuesday June 16, with market chatter that China is bidding on — or indeed may have already bought — US beans for February, giving much-lauded impetus to further increases in futures markets over the period.
Soybean oil bases in Argentina and Brazil hit a record spread to their counterpart in the US Gulf on June 1, with a mix of biofuel policies, harvest pressures and export competition against rival oils creating massive regional divergences, although the spread decreased by the end of last week amid a CME soyoil futures sell-off.