Soyaoil and soyameal production in the world's top supplier Argentina may be slowed this season by flooding in the Pampas farm belt, official data showed on Friday, giving an unexpected boost to US exports. Argentine farmers have sold 31.2 million tonnes of soyabeans so far this season versus 36.5 million at this point last year, according to data released by the agriculture ministry. It showed 4.02 million tonnes of soyabeans were crushed in June, down 11 percent from June 2015.
Parts of the country's Pampas farm belt were lashed by record storms in the first three weeks of April. Initial floods have cleared up, but soils were left so moist that fields and unpaved roads have been swamped by normal showers since then.
"We had extremely bad weather, which caused an unusual delay of the soya harvest. That's an important reason why we haven't sold as much as we wanted," said Santiago del Solar, who farms thousands of hectares in bread-basket province Buenos Aires.
"On top of that, we are not able to transport and deliver (soyabeans to port-side crushing plants) because of the awful condition of rural roads," del Solar said.
Argentina is the world's top supplier of soyameal livestock feed and soyaoil, which is used in making biofuels. It is also the No 3 exporter of soyabeans and corn. The country's main competition in these markets comes from neighbouring Brazil and the United States.
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