Argentina ends July with record corn stocks of 14 million mt: BCR

Corn stocks at Argentine storage facilities reached 14 million mt as of the end of July, marking a new historical record, a study by the Rosario Grain Exchange (BCR) has shown.

At the end of July 2019, commercial corn stock was slightly less than 10 million mt, according to BCR.

Corn shipments between March and July also set a new record, with a total volume of 21 million mt, surging 12% compared to the same period of the previous year, BCR said citing data from local maritime agency Nabsa.

The report also highlighted that the industry and the export sector had acquired a total of 32.7 million mt of corn by the end of June, up 2 million mt compared to purchases at end-June 2019.

“As a result, grain availability is tighter this year, even despite good production performance,” BCR said.

BCR reported that grain production for the 2019/20 cycle reached 51.5 million mt, meaning that the industry and the export sector had already acquired 63% of total production this crop season, with a total of 14.6 million mt of 2019/20 corn still available.

For the 2020/21 marketing year, the industry and the export sector has already acquired 4.8 million mt of an expected production of 46.7 million mt.

Current purchases represent 9% of total production, a value that is 2 percentage points above the average of the last three years, BCR said.

Argentina’s farmers are set to plant 6.75 million ha of corn in the 2020/21 crop cycle, down 7% on the current cycle, Cristian Russo, an analyst at the country’s Rosario Board of Trade (BCR), recently told Agricensus.

Farmers are not planting more corn due to international and domestic uncertainties, lower margins and the fear of negative weather conditions, the analyst said.