There is no other country that can absorb the world crisis in sunflower production like Argentina. Farmers will plant as much as they can, but they will be limited by the availability of seeds.”
Guillermo Pozzi Jáuregui, president of the Argentine Sunflower Association
The estimated contribution of the sunflower cultivation chain to the Argentine economy will exceed 1,900 million dollars in the current 2021/22 campaign and, if materialized, will reach a historical record thanks to the high international prices of the grain and its by-products, according to the Buenos Aires Cereal Exchange (BCBA).
In this way, the stock market entity calculated the Gross Agricultural Product (PBA) of the complex at 1,909 million dollars, 217 million dollars above what was registered in the last campaign, which meant an expansion of 12.8 percent.
Thus, with the harvest recently completed with a volume of 3.4 million tons, added to high international prices, the chain “would generate a record contribution to the Argentine economy,” the BCBA said.
Regarding exports, the entity projected revenues of 1,202 million dollars, which will represent an increase of 18.2% (185 million dollars), while the collection for withholdings will have an increase of 69 million dollars to 426 million dollars. Dollars.
The volume produced of the grain was at the same levels as in the 2020/21 campaign, after the entity will increase 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 harvesting 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 in the south of the agricultural area”, indicated the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg revealed that a trend is emerging: Argentina is ready for a sunflower boom. Russia and Ukraine typically account for nearly 80% of sunflower oil exports. With shipments falling amid war tension, a door has been 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 a fifth more than the previous season and the largest area in 14 years, according to data from the Buenos Aires Cereal Exchange.