Argentina forward sales of soybeans hit 12.8m mt, exports dry up

Forward selling of soybeans out of Argentina has reached 12.8 million mt as of last week, according to official data released Wednesday, although purchasing by exporters has dried up.

By March 14 farmers had sold 4.38 million mt to the export sector and 8.49 million mt to crushers, according to data from the ministry of agricultural industry.

That’s up on the 4.1 million mt and 5.6 million mt that farmers sold to exporters and crushers at this point last year.

At an expected crop of about 40 million mt, the forward sales of 12.8 million mt represent 32% of the total production.

That compares with the 17% of the crop farmers had sold forward at this point of the harvest last year.

In terms of corn and wheat forward sales they were marginally higher with 9 million mt of corn sold to exporters, up from 8.55 million mt at the same point in 2017, and 9.2 million mt of wheat, up from 8.6 million mt