Paraguay crushes 1.39 million mt of soybean in Jan-June: chamber

Paraguay's crush industry processed 1.39 million mt of soybeans in the January-June period, down 21.8% compared with the three-year average of 1.77 million mt, the national grain and oilseed crushing chamber has Cappro said.

“Soybean crushing in June showed a reduction compared to the same month last year... The possibility of reversing this trend is far off and everything points to the end of the third consecutive year with a drop in oilseed industrialization,” Cappro said in the report, noting it was the fifth such decline in six months

Paraguay processed 3.29 million mt of soybeans through 2020, down 7.9% compared with the three-year average of 3.57 million mt.

Cappro also noted that the crush sector’s overall utilisation rate reached 60% at the end of June, down compared with 71% at the end of June 2020, showing the lowest levels of utilisation since 2013.

Local exporters are currently facing logistical obstacles to ship soybeans via the Parana river due to the very low water levels, a situation that had affected exporters during most of last year too.

Cappro also reported that exports of meal, oil and beans during the January-June period amounted to 4.86 million mt, down 4% compared with the same period last year.

“This accumulated export volume in the soybean complex represents the worst first semester since the drought of 2012, when the country had exported a little less than 2.64 million mt,” the entity said.

Of the total exports in the first half of the year, soybeans contributed 3.73 million mt, soymeal added 873,746 mt and soyoil another 239,314 mt.

According to its latest update, the USDA expects soybean exports in 2020/21 to reach 6.6 million mt and soybean production to reach 9.9 million mt in the current crop cycle.

The USDA also forecast soybean exports of 6.5 million mt and an overall production of 10.5 million mt for the 2021/22 cycle.