Concern is rising that Argentina’s new soyabean harvest now being gathered may be reduced by the double blow of heavy rains following drought, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday. “Soyabean prospects have deteriorated,” Oil World said. “There is currently a wide range of (crop) estimates between 48 and 52 million tonnes, but we expect that the high end of the range will soon be reduced owing to confirmation of crop losses in the north from drought and losses in central and southern Argentina following the recent substantial rainfall and flooding.”
Argentina harvested 39.7 million tonnes of soyabeans in early 2012. Oil World still forecasts Argentina’s 2013 soyabean crop at 48.5 million tonnes. Heavy rains interrupted soyabean harvesting in Argentina’s south and central grains belt over the past week, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Thursday.
Large Argentine and Brazilian soyabean crops now being harvested are urgently needed by global consumers following tight supplies in past months following a poor US harvest in 2012 and record high soyabean prices in September last year. But South American new crop exports are still being hampered by transport and port loading problems, despite hopes that larger shipments were on the way, Oil World said. “The volumes of new crop soyabeans and products from South America are still insufficient to satisfy world demand, primarily owing to the logistical bottlenecks in Brazil,” Oil World said.
