Argentina’s planned corn shipments hit five-year high -exchange

Argentina’s scheduled corn exports hit their highest levels in at least five years in the early part of 2024, the Rosario grains exchange said on Friday, hitting 1.9 million metric tons and boosted by leftover stocks from the previous season.

The exchange predicts the 2023/24 season will produce a record 57 million-metric ton harvest, helped by favorable rainfall. Farmers in the South American country, the world’s No. 3 supplier, began harvesting the crop last week.

The figure, based on shipping agency data as of March 6, signals the largest committed volume seen in at least last five years, the exchange said in a weekly report.

The chart below shows Argentina’s corn exports measured in TEUs, from Jan 2022 to Jan 2024. The data is from DataLiner.

Corn Exports | Argentina | Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

On March 1, the first day of the commercial campaign, the exchange said warehouses stocked some 9.6 million metric tons of corn, a “carryover” from the previous season some 10% above the previous five-year average.

This compared to 10.3 million-metric ton carryover in the 2022/23 season and comes despite a historic drought that devastated last year’s harvests. The exchange said reserves remained high thanks to an adjustment of exports and stable domestic demand.

The exchange also reported a significant growth in traffic of trucks carrying corn to ports, up 120% year-on-year to over 45,300 vehicles between February and the first week of March.

Soybean crushing also saw a strong rebound in February, the exchange added, with activity up 17% year-on-year despite a 5% contraction from the previous month. The exchange predicts a soy harvest of some 49.5 million metric tons.

Source: Nasdaq

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