Argentina-Soy exports up for 2008.

ARGENTINA.

SOY EXPORTS UP.

Argentine soy exports rose by 22% in the first 9 months of 2008, however shipments of soy oil fell, according to the governments latest reports published on Saturday.

There was a total of 10.55 million tons of soy shipped from January to September, compared with 8.62 million tons for the same period last year.

Argentina is the worlds leading exporter of soy oil and soy meal, and the third largest exporter of soy beans.

The main buyers of soy product were China, who purchased 7.88 million tons, as opposed to 6.32 million tons in 2007.China purchased 1.34 million tons of soy oil for the same period.

The projected exports of soy for the year are forecast at 13.83 million tons and 4.12 million tons of soy oil, along with 19.72 million tons of soy pellets.

WHEAT EXPORTS.

Argentina also exported 6.48 million tons of wheat from January to September 2008, which is down 9.5 % from 2007 owing to increased domestic demand, along with the fact many farmers switched to soy from wheat.

The anticipated wheat exports for the year 2008, are still at 10.5 million tons.

Corn exports for the first 9 months of the year were 13.46 million tons, which is up 5% from 2007, when exports were 12.8 million tons.

Without some summer rain, there are fears that the harvest yields for soy and wheat will be down this year, the hottest summer since 1955.