Argentine government eyes sunflower oil exports to India

Argentina Agriculture Secretary Luis Etchevehere and representatives from the country’s oilseed industry chamber Ciara will visit India in July in a bid to boost sunoil exports to the world's biggest vegoil importer, Gustavo Idigoras, head of Ciara, told Agricensus.

The executive said that Argentine sunflower oil exports to India had been displaced five years ago due to growing supply from Ukraine.

Another goal of the mission would be to consolidate previous negotiations carried out during a trade mission to India headed by President Mauricio Macri in February this year.

“We aim to reach long-term agreements and contracts in the soy oil segment in order to consolidate this business and increase export volumes for 2020,” Idigoras said.

During this previous visit, Ciara signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), with the aim of promoting vegetable oil production and trade.

Argentina is expected to export 4.87 million mt of soyoil this year, up from 4.2 million mt in 2018, Federico Di Yenno, an analyst with the Rosario Board of Trade (BCR), recently told Agricensus.

Di Yenno also said that India will represent nearly 50% of total exports in the soyoil segment.