Sunflower crop would contribute US$1.9 billion to the Argentine economy

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The estimated contribution of the sunflower crop chain to the Argentine economy will exceed 1.9 billion dollars in the current 2021/22 season and, if it is realized, it will reach a historical record thanks to the high international prices of the grain and its by-products, according to the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange (BCBA).

In this way, the stock exchange entity calculated the Gross Agricultural Product (GAP) of the complex at 1.909 billion dollars, 217 million dollars above that recorded in the last campaign, which meant an expansion of 12.8 percent.

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Thus, with the recently completed harvest with a volume of 3.4 million tons, added to the high international prices, the chain “would generate a record contribution to the Argentine economy”, stated the BCBA.

As for exports, the entity projected revenues for 1.202 billion dollars, which will represent an increase of 18.2% (185 million dollars), while the collection of withholdings will have an increase of 69 million dollars to 426 million dollars.

The volume of grain produced was at the same levels as in the 2020/21 season, after the entity raised the harvest volume by 100,000 tons this week, while it exceeded the average volume of the last 10 years by 6.6%.

Notwithstanding these results, what was obtained once the harvest work was completed was 100,000 tons below what was projected at the beginning of the campaign, due to “pollination failures as a consequence of the intense heat shocks and the high incidence of stem canker (Phomopsi helianthi) during grain filling, concentrated in the sunflower nuclei of the south of the agricultural area,” the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange indicated.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that a trend is emerging: Argentina is poised for a sunflower boom. Russia and Ukraine usually account for almost 80% of sunflower oil exports. With shipments falling amid war tensions, a door has opened for Argentina, the largest supplier of soybean oil, to revive its sunflower industry.

Planting in the 2022-2023 season could reach 2 million hectares, Guillermo Pozzi Jáuregui, president of the Argentine Sunflower Association, said in an interview. That would be one-fifth more than the previous season and the largest area in 14 years, according to data from the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange.