Market News & Headlines >> Argentine Soybean Movement Slows

Soybean deliveries to crushing plants have been severely curtailed in Argentina, the world's top soymeal exporter, as the country reacts to the coronavirus pandemic, the local grains export industry chamber told Reuters News Service on Tuesday. 

More than 70 municipalities throughout the country are enforcing anti-coronavirus measures by controlling the movement of farm produce through their jurisdictions, according to data provided by the CIARA-CEC export chamber, which represents global companies including Bunge and Dreyfus. 

There has a been a "strong reduction" in truck deliveries of raw soybeans to the giant crushing plants that dot the banks of the Parana River, Argentina's grains superhighway, Gustavo Idigoras, head of the chamber, told Reuters in a text. 

While Argentina's river ports are functioning, crushing workers are subject to strict, state-mandated safety precautions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus. However, the main problem lies closer to the farm, where trucks are being slowed by the precautions as they seek to pick up soybeans for delivery at crushing plants.