BUENOS AIRES: Argentina’s producers have sold 19.5 million tonnes of corn for the 2021/22 season, the ministry of agriculture said on Tuesday.

The ministry said that 744,000 tonnes of corn were traded between March 16 and 23, exceeding the 454,900 tonnes recorded the same period in the previous season, boosted by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that has cut the global supply of the grain.

Argentina is the world’s second largest corn exporter and its farmers are beginning to harvest the 2021/22 grain, whose harvest the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange (BdeC) estimates at 49 million tonnes.

At the end of last year, the Argentine government set a limit on corn exports for the 2021/22 cycle of 41.6 million tonnes in an attempt to control high domestic food prices.

Regarding 2021/22 soybean, Argentine farmers have sold 11.5 million tonnes of the oilseed, whose harvest will begin in the coming weeks, according to the government. On the same period of the last season, the volume of sales had been 12.8 million tonnes.

The BdeC estimated soybean production for the current season at 42 million tonnes.