Argentina's exports continued to register large volumes of soybean meal and sunflower meal this week, with cargoes booked for export into the fourth quarter.
Shippers registered 957,000 metric tonnes (t) of soybean meal for export during the week ended on 24 July, a significant increase from 129,000t registered for the week last year, according to the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (SAGyP). Sunflower meal export registrations reached 106,000t during the week, up from the 19,000t registered a year ago.
Both have seen significant increases over the past two weeks, with volumes registered for loading as far out as November. During the most recent week 474,000t of soybeans were registered for loading by the end of August. The remaining volumes were registered for loading by the end of September and October, at 83,000t and 400,000t, respectively.
August was also the primary month for sunflower registrations, with 48,000t booked for loading during the month. The remainder were distributed across September, October, and November.
Despite the recent increase, soybean meal export registrations for August remained below last year's level as of 23 July at 2.82mn t, down from 2.96mn t last year. Sunflower meal registrations, in contrast, were ahead of last year, with 214,000t registered for August loading, up from 9,300t last year. And volumes are likely to increase as bookings for the month historically continue through July and into the first week of August.
August corn, wheat exports build
Grain export registrations were also active during the week with expectations for August loading exceeding last year's levels.
Exporters registered 449,000t of corn for export, all of which was for August loading. With the most recent week, Argentina's exports have booked 2.86mn t of corn for loading by the end of August, up from the 2.37mn t registered for the month last year.
Wheat export registrations were also entirely focused on August loading, reaching 197,000t during the week. Wheat registered for loading by the end of August reached 734,000t at the end of the week, up from the 626,000t booked for the month last year.
No barley was registered during the week, leaving export volumes likely to fall sharply in August. Only 5,900t has been registered for loading by the end of the month, down from 206,000t last year.
Sunflower, soybeans dip
Soybean and sunflower seed exports are likely to be lower in August compared with last year, as meal and oil exports dominate trade.
During the most recent week, exports registered 516,000t of soybeans for export, most of which were booked for loading by the end of September. So far only 191,000t of soybeans have been registered for August loading, down from 2.01mn t last year. And sunflower seed export registration fell to 2,000t during the week—split across August and October loading—bringing the total volume registered to load by the end of next month to just 12,000t.
Soybean oil and sunflower oil are likely to see higher exports in August compared with last year. During the week, exports registered 61,000t, 50,000t of which was for loading by the end of August, bringing total volumes for the month to 437,000t, above the 412,000t registered for August last year. And 59,000t of sunflower oil was registered for export, with most of the volume booked for loading by the end of October. But the month of August still had 206,000t of sunflower oil registered for export loading at the end of the week, up from 88,000t last year.
