Soybeans are losing ground in Argentina due to falling prices and margins

The collapse of soybean prices and the reduction of crop margins led agricultural producers to change their planting decisions and cut the surface area of the oilseed by 200,000 hectares. Thus, this campaign, only 18.4 million hectares will be planted, which, in any case, represents 6.4% more than in the previous cycle. Soybeans gained ground this year as a result of the decline in corn that occurred due to fear of new attacks by the leafhopper and the arrival of La Niña with its lack of rain. However, the soybean expansion will not be as expected. For CREA (Regional Consortiums for Agricultural Experimentation), the profitability scenario for farmers is in “red”. The viability index it prepares warns of a very complicated profitability scenario for all crops, but especially for soybeans: “Only 10% of the national surface would be located in a range of positive economic viability,” says the entity. The rest would show losses or barely tight margins. In a large part of the area ...