Miller Magazine Issue: 145 January 2022

86 Country Profile MILLER / january 2022 centrated in November-December and to date, practically 9 million tons of the crop was already purchased by exporters and have export declarations. This is about double of the volume purchased by exporters at this time a year ago. Brazil is expected to buy approximately 5.8-6.0 million tons of wheat followed by purchases from African countries and other Latin American countries such as Chile and Peru. Exports to Southeast Asia are expected to be significantly smaller in MY 2021-2022 than the past two seasons be- cause Australia is projected to recover its production and thus exports to this region. CORN As for 2021/22 corn, USDA raised its harvest estimate to 54.5 million tons. And the Buenos Aires exchange expects a record corn harvest of 57 million tonnes. Despite higher production costs, corn has been showing since the early planning stages of the MY 2021-2022 crop season to be the best and most profitable alternative in most agricultural areas of Argentina. Although production costs of corn are way higher than soybeans, many farmers were able to pur- chase some inputs in advance at lower prices. Local farm- ers are also in a good financial situation after a profitable MY 2020-2021 which resulted in good production levels at high commodity prices. Argentina is the third-largest exporter of corn, behind the U.S. and Brazil. Corn exports for MY 2021-2022 are fore- cast at a record 40 million tons. Destinations are projected to be similar to those in MY 2020-2021, except for exports to Brazil which are expected to be significantly lower with the production of their new crop. Domestic consumption of corn in MY 2021-2022 is fore- cast at 14 million tons. Consumption is expected to increase as the different livestock sectors are forecast to continue to recover production as the country slowly comes back from the significant economic downfall of 2020. EXPORT RESTRICTIONS In Argentina, export restrictions and taxes on soybean, sunflower, wheat and corn have depressed producer pric- es for most of the last two decades. Export taxes were typically lower for processed products, while quantitative restrictions and export licences have particularly affected wheat and beef. Export restrictions have proved not to be an effective and sustainable instrument for reducing food inflation, although they did generate fiscal revenue, notably in years of high food prices on world markets. In December 2021, Argentina announced plans to cap corn and wheat exports in the next marketing year as part of efforts to quell domestic inflation. The Argentine government said that corn exports would be limited to 41.6 million tonnes while wheat would be limited to 12.5 million tonnes. On the barley front, USDA projects production for MY 2021-2022 at 4.8 million tons. Barley exports for MY 2021- 2022 remain at 3.5 million tons, the third-highest volume on record. Domestic consumption is projected at 1.55 million tons. Malting companies are seeing stronger demand from the domestic market and other regional markets, as many countries return to a more normal pace after the vast vacci- nation campaigns have come a long way to normalizing life.