Soy Boon For Argentina As Ukraine War Boosts Prices

Russia's war on Ukraine has sent grain prices skyrocketing -- a worry for consumers worldwide but potentially a boon for producers like Argentina, which hopes an influx of soybean "agridollars" will boost its faltering economy

Lobos, Argentina, May 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2022 ) :Russia's war on Ukraine has sent grain prices skyrocketing -- a worry for consumers worldwide but potentially a boon for producers like Argentina, which hopes an influx of soybean "agridollars" will boost its faltering economy.

South America's third-largest economy is the biggest exporter of soybean meal and oil in the world, and only the United States and Brazil export more soybean grains.

Soy represents nearly a third of Argentina's exports and in 2021 contributed $9 billion to the state coffers.

This year, the sector is expecting record sales of $23.7 billion -- about $700 million more than in 2021 -- despite a 10 percent smaller harvest due to severe drought.

"The prospects for the producer are good... There is optimism," said Martin Semino, who sells farming equipment and presides over the Rural Society of Lobos, a fertile agricultural zone southwest of Buenos Aires.

The harvest season is at its height, and workers are laboring from dawn to dusk to clear the fields before the autumn rains arrive.

"Soy is the Dollar, the Currency of the countryside," Semino told AFP.

In the past, the grain has been a savior for inflation-troubled Argentina.

A soybean boom in the 2000s is widely considered to have helped the country recover from its worst economic crisis in 2001.

In the last 40 years, the planted surface area of soy has multiplied 14 times.