Argentina increased sunseed processing volumes by 78% in January

A seasonal contraction in domestic supplies reduced soybean crushing volumes in Argentina in January to an 11-month low and increased sunflower seed crushing by 78% to 323,000 tonnes, according to Oil World (Germany).

Soybean crushing totaled 2.72 million tonnes, below the same month last year (2.91 million tonnes), leading to a 5% and 10% decline in Argentine soybean oil and meal exports, respectively, to 0.48 million tonnes and 2 million tonnes. Soybean oil stocks in Argentina at the end of January were only 180,000 tonnes, a seven-month low.

In contrast to the tense soybean situation, Argentine crushers were able to take advantage of ample domestic sunflower seed reserves and a shortage of sunflower oil and meal on the global market. Thus, amid growing processing volumes, sunflower meal exports reached a four-month high of 168,000 tonnes (compared to 105,000 tonnes in January 2025), increasing the total volume since the start of the season to a new high of 0.53 million tonnes, compared to 0.35 million tonnes in October-January 2024/25.

The bulk of this growth came from deliveries to the EU-27 – 0.36 million tonnes (69% of the total) compared to 0.21 million tonnes (61%) a year earlier.

Sunflower oil exports in January slowed seasonally to 94,000 tonnes, primarily due to a sharp decline in stocks as of the end of December 2025. Overall, Argentina’s sunflower oil exports in October-January 2025/26 MY reached a new high of 0.44 million tons, compared to 0.35 million tons a year earlier, of which 128 (81) thousand tons were delivered to India.

Tags: sunseed, Argentina