Argentina soy sales fall 10% on year, wheat doubles in 2 years
The value of Argentina's soy export sales in 2017 were down by 10.2% versus 2016, while wheat sales doubled between 2015 and 2017, government data from the Argentinian National Institute of Statistics and Censuses showed.
Total 2017 export soy sales, comprising sales of meal, oil and beans, amounted to $15.54 billion, the lowest value recorded in the last four years.
Soybean meal sales accounted for $9.05 million, of which nearly a third of that was sold to the EU.
Soybean oil sales came in at $3.73 billion, with just under half going to India, while soybean sales were $2.73 billion, of which 88% was picked up by China.
Soybean complex sales accounted for 26.6% of all export sales out of Argentina for the 2017 calendar year, the largest share of any single commodity but down from its share of 29.9% in 2016.
Global soybean prices declined sharply in 2017 due to a supply glut, with the CBOT front- month contract falling from a three year high of $11.76/bu in June 2016 to reach a 14-month low of $9.04/bu in June 2017.
At the same time, SME biodiesel exports fell by 1.3% on the year to $1.22 billion, but were still more than double 2015 sales, which came in at $506 million.
Some 60% of SME was sold into the NAFTA trading bloc, while the European Union took the balance.
Meanwhile, cereal sales moved up quite sharply, with wheat sales increasing to $2.7 billion, up 23.8% from 2016 and more than double compared with 2015 sales.
The strong devaluation of the Argentinian peso made wheat exports a lot more attractive for foreign countries which boosted sales, despite a fall in global wheat prices in 2017.
The peso lost over 17% versus the US dollar between 2016 and 2017.
Over the past four years, wheat sales have almost tripled, as the Argentinian market remains competitive as an origin and despite a global grain glut, spearheaded by substantial production from Russia.
It is the strongest sales growth seen for any commodity sold by the Latin American nation.
The bulk of sales remained local and were sold to the other Mercosur members.
Corn sales were down 7.3% on the year and hit $3.94 billion, with the largest share or $1.24 billion sold to Egypt and the Arab Maghreb Union, followed by just over a billion sales to Asean trade bloc.
Total Argentinian exports, including agricultural, petrochemical and other commodities, accounted for $58.34 billion in 2017 up 0.9% from the year before.