Gran Rosario area concentrates 80% of the country’s oilseed crush capacity

Based on the new survey of terminals and oil companies in the area, new estimations of the milling capacity of the greater metropolitan area of Rosario city come to 165,800 tons of oilseeds per day, while the national crushing capacity is 207,800 MT/day, in active plants.

The oil industry, which found a strong foothold in Argentina since the end of the last century, appears today as one of the fundamental pillars of the Nation’s productive system, mainly in terms of exports, but also of great importance in production, employment, and creation of value. Argentina ranks third in terms of volume in agro-industrial exports worldwide, only behind the United States and Brazil according to the FAO, although ranked number one in oilseed subproducts. Indeed, for SB meal and oil, our country has long since consolidated its position as leader. As for sunflower meal and oils, Argentina reaches the podium, commonly ranking in third place.

The industrialization of oilseeds, mainly SB, has allowed the country to stop being fundamentally an exporter of raw goods (grains) in recent decades to become a world benchmark in the commercialization of manufactures of agricultural origin (MOA). Indeed, only SB meal (and pellets) and oil exports accounted for approximately USD 2 out of every USD 10 that generated through exports in 2020, totaling foreign sales of USD 11,700 million in said year. The whole oilseed industry, including other complexes such as sunflower and peanut, account for approximately a third of the national exportable balance, with USD 16,730 million in exports just last year.

FACT N ° 1: Argentina has 344 industrial oil plants, 15 solvent extraction plants, and 329 pressing-extruded plants.

Argentina currently has 344 industrial oil plants according to information from the Single Registry of Operators of the Agroindustrial Chain (RUCA), considering both solvent extraction plants (15 plants) and plants that use the pressing-extruded method (329 plants).

FACT N ° 2: Argentina has an installed capacity to process 213,600 tons of oilseeds daily, which corresponds to 70.5 million tons per year.

Taking the plants with the highest processing capacity and whose information is available, according to data collected from the Stock Exchange’s Directorate of Information and Economic Studies and data provided by the Broker-Broker J.J. Hinrichsen SA, Argentina has a total installed capacity (both, active and inactive plants) to process 213,600 tons of oilseeds daily, which corresponds to almost 70.5 million tons per year, far exceeding the total production of the main oilseed crops in the country (soy, sunflower, canola, among others).

If we only consider the active plants, the national crushing capacity is at 207,870 tons per day, about 68.6 million tons per year, based on an operating cycle of 330 days a year.

Oilseed industrialization plants in Argentina are strongly concentrated in the greater metropolitan area of Rosario city. This is due to both natural factors and human investments. An element of great relevance is the proximity of production to this area; Approximately 64% of Argentina’s soy production, the main locally industrialized crop, is found within a 300 km radius of the port factories that surround Greater Rosario. At the same time, the topographic benefits that the Paraná River ravine presents at these latitudes for the bulk cargo of the vessels, and the tasks of deepening the navigable channel that allowed to begin to load vessels of greater depth, ended up creating an environment suitable for the installation of these mega-factories. The number of factories installed and the oilseed processing capacity that exists concentrated in an area of ​​this size makes this area the most important oilseed industrial complex in the world. The large production scale, the proximity to production, and the easy access for export give the sector great strength and competitiveness at an international level.

FACT N ° 3: The 20 crushing plants located in the greater metropolitan area of Rosario city account for 80% of the country’s crush capacity. The largest oilseed agroindustrial pole in the world is located in this area.

In the Greater Rosario Metropolitan Area, there are 20 SB and sunflower processing factories, 12 of which have port facilities for the dispatch of products derived from their industrialization. These plants have dissimilar processing capacities, ranging from 500 tons per day in the smallest plants to a maximum of 33,000 tons per day in the largest. Likewise, not all plants process oilseeds destined for export markets, with the smaller and inland plants mainly focused on supplying the domestic market.

According to our latest survey of ports, terminals, and factories in the area, the 20 vegoil factories of the greater Rosario metropolitan area (in which we include plants from nearby towns, such as Chabás or San Jerónimo Sud) concentrate an impressive crush capacity of 165,800 tons of oilseeds per day, operating at max. capacity.

FACT N ° 4: Gran Rosario has plants capable of industrializing 165,800 tons of oilseeds per day. 85% of the milling capacity is found in plants with their own built-in termimals on the Paraná River, while barely the remaining 15% are exclusively processing plants.

The plant with the highest daily oilseed processing capacity is Renova in Timbúes; this joint-venture was formed in 2007 by Oleaginosa Moreno Hnos. S.A. (now Viterra S.A.) and Vicentin S.A.I.C., has a daily oilseed processing capacity of close to 33 thousand tons per day, being the most important in the country. It is followed by the Terminal 6 S.A. plant, owned by Bunge Argentina S.A. and Aceitera General Deheza S.A. in the town of San Martín, with a processing capacity of 20,000 tons of oilseeds per day, same as Molinos Agro S.A. San Benito plant, based in the town of San Lorenzo. Next, the Cargill complex in Villa Gobernador Gálvez has a crush capacity of 13,000 tons of SB per day. It is closely followed by Louis Dreyfus Company’s plant in General Lagos, which can process 12,000 tons of oilseeds per day.

Source: https://bcr.com.ar/

Photo: REUTERS/Stringer

For more info visit

https://www.linkedin.com/company/wbl-shipping-agency/