Argentina rains delay soy harvest, tighten biofuels feedstock outlook
Heavy soil moisture left Argentina’s soybean crop 82% planted and 12 points behind last year, while wheat seeding slipped in a 6.5 million-hectare campaign.
Excessive soil moisture slowed Argentina’s soybean harvest and the 2026/27 wheat planting, with soy 82% planted and 12 percentage points behind the same point a year earlier, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said June 19.
The exchange estimated Argentina’s 2025/26 soybean production at 50.1 million tons and the 2026/27 wheat area at 6.5 million hectares. Its June crop tables also put 2025/26 corn production at 64.0 million tons and 2025/26 sunflower production at 6.6 million tons.
Heavy rains in Buenos Aires province slowed fieldwork, and the exchange’s crop note pointed to delays in both harvesting and planting across the wider agricultural belt. Argentina’s soybeans, corn and wheat move through the same storage, transport and port systems, and any pause in one crop can tighten logistics for the next.
Soy oil is a core feedstock for biodiesel, and a harvest that lags the previous season leaves less room for processors to chase nearby supply or rebuild inventories quickly. Argentina is one of the world’s major grain exporters, so slower fieldwork can ripple beyond farm incomes into export availability and the domestic crush market that supplies oil to fuel producers.
Torrential rains in Buenos Aires province in the second half of May already had delayed wheat and barley planting, along with soybean and corn harvesting, showing the same moisture problem has been recurring through the season. For buyers tracking the virgin-versus-waste oil spread, that keeps the soybean oil balance tied more tightly to field conditions in Argentina at a time when used cooking oil and tallow remain the other major competing feedstocks.
The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange also said a new regulatory framework for biofuels is a priority. Its institutional note called for a framework that promotes investment, competition, innovation and development.
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