Argentina to Import US Soybean After 20 Years

Argentina’s national food health and quality service Senasa is working to update regulations in order to facilitate the import of US soyabeans into the country for the first time in over two decades.  As the last imports from the US were made in 1997, Argentina’s needs to update the sanitary protocols between the two countries.  Currently, Argentina regulations would not allow the arrival of bulk ships carrying US soyabeans, Senasa president Luis Negri told Agricensus. 

Another issue is the need to find out what to do with the transgenics that are approved in the US but are not approved in Argentina and in other markets that will receive soybean meal and oil from US soybeans. Senasa had already appointed technical teams to work on the two issues and Negri expected the first soybeans to arrive in Argentina later in the year. 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said that in early April, Argentinian buyers had purchased four cargoes of soyabeans totalling 240,000 tons which would likely be delivered in October or November.  Argentinian crushers were looking to buy up to 1 million tons of US soyabeans in order to keep crushing rates high come autumn.