Argentina raised taxes on soybean exports to 33% from the current 30%, a spokesman for the CRA confederation of farmers said on Tuesday following a meeting with government officials.
Brazil, the world’s largest soy producer, and supplier, shipped 3.55 million tons of soybeans in the first three weeks of February, up 367% month on month, according to a report from the Brazilian foreign trade department.
It rained more in two days than it usually does in a month in some northern Argentine soy growing areas recently, but the crop losses will have little effect on national production when harvesting starts next month, farm weather experts said.
Brazil is poised to export more corn than soybeans for the first time in a year this January, although sales of the oilseed remain high for the period, according to government and shipping data.
A hungry American economy powered by a strong U.S. dollar saw record imports in September, driving the U.S. trade deficit to its highest level in seven months, the government reported on Friday.
China’s purchases of U.S. soybeans have come to a grinding halt, trade and industry sources say, as fears of further action by Beijing to curb imports of U.S. crops following last week’s anti-dumping move on sorghum rattles the agriculture industry.