On Wednesday, December 30, 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Nation reported the temporary suspension of the registration of Foreign Sales Affidavits (DJVE) for the cornSpecifically, this applies to sales whose shipment is prior to March 1, 2021, the formal start date of the 2020/21 campaign.

In the resolution, the ministry states that it is "based on the need to ensure the supply of grain for the sectors that use it as raw material in their transformation processes."

This measure is part of a long-term drought which affected the entire Southern Cone and, specifically, the 2019/20 and 2020/21 campaigns. This resulted in lower yields for Argentine crops, as well as changes in land use.

In line with the above, the report The accompanying note presents a complete overview of the agricultural sector, which will allow us to understand the current situation both in national production and in global markets. The following points are analyzed:

• Grains: wheat, barley, corn, soybeans, sunflowers and grain sorghum. And the soybean, corn and wheat markets.
• Dairy products: local production, prices, consumption and exports.
• Meats: bovine, poultry and porcine. And meat consumption.

Furthermore, the report does not avoid the analysis of the volume and importance of agricultural exports in the generation of foreign exchange for our country. On the contrary, it puts into perspective the importance of the sector in dealing with the limitations of the so-called external restriction. Below is a preview of the report.

The field produces grains

More than 20 different varieties of cropsThree of these stand out widely from the rest, exceeding 5 million hectares planted, which are, in order of importance, soybeans, corn and wheat.

Argentina is the leading exporter of oil and flour. soybean, and a major supplier of soybeans (less than 10% of what is traded internationally). More than 85% of the total supply of soybeans and by-products is concentrated between Brazil, the USA and Argentina.

Today, soybeans and sunflowers are the most important oilseeds in terms of production volume. Soybeans have experienced strong growth over the past 60 years, going from 5% of total grain production in 1961 to 10% today. The reason for this increase is concentrated in a greater demand for animal proteins and edible oils, resulting from the growth of both population and income. per capita World

The field produces dairy products

Argentina has been producing approximately 10 to 11 million liters of milk annually since the beginning of the century, of which more than 20% is destined for the foreign market. An interesting relationship to follow, and which is closely related to the resolution of the ministry mentioned at the beginning of this article, referring to the export of corn; is the input/output ratio in milk production.

Typically, the ratio of kilograms of corn per liter of milk is used to synthetically indicate the purchasing power of the milk produced over the inputs needed to obtain it. In October 2020, this ratio was 1,6. This means that a producer could buy 1,6 kg of corn for one liter of milk. Thus, the ratio is approximately 23% lower than the average of the last 5 years (2,07) and one of the lowest of the entire decade.

The field produces meat

In meat production, it is estimated that cattle rodeo The Argentine population stands at 54,46 million heads. For reference, it should be noted that in Argentina, in the 50s, there were about 60 million heads with a population of less than 20 million inhabitants, and that Brazil in 1975 had 57 million heads of cattle (almost the same as Argentina today), and today has more than 200 million.

In 2019, approximately 14 million heads of cattle were slaughtered, generating a production of 3,13 million tons of meat, of which 0,85 million tons were exported. Domestic consumption reached 2,3 million tons, with per capita consumption reaching 51,36 kilograms per inhabitant.

With regards to  poultry productionIn 2019, more than 750 million birds were slaughtered, generating 2,2 million tonnes. Per capita consumption has been growing in recent years, but at a lower rate than that of pork. In 2019, it reached 43,16 kilograms per year per person and 0,27 million tonnes were exported, with an export coefficient of approximately 12%.

El pig sector It is the most dynamic in Argentina. In the last 5 years it has increased by more than 20%, reaching 610 thousand tons. This increase is due to an increase in slaughter as well as in the average weight of the animals. Per capita consumption in Argentina has also been growing in recent years, reaching 14,15 kilograms per year per inhabitant of fresh meat.

In 2019, there was an average consumption of 108,8 kilograms of meat per person in our country, of which 51,4 kilograms were beef (47%), 43,2 kilograms were poultry meat (40%), and 14,2 kilograms were pork (13%). The report completes the information for 2020.