BUENOS AIRES, July 13 (Reuters) - Argentine farmers have sold 24.5 million tonnes of soybeans grown in the 2020/21 season, after transactions were registered over the last week for 831,300 tonnes, the Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday in a report with data updated through July 7.
The rhythm of Argentine soybean sales is slower than the previous year's, when by this point in the season 26.9 million tonnes of the oilseed had been sold, according to official data.
Argentina's 2020/21 soybean harvest came in at an estimated 43.5 million tonnes, according to the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange, versus 49 million tonnes in the 2019/20 crop year.
Argentina is the world's top exporter of soymeal livestock feed. The country needs export dollars to replenish central bank foreign currency reserves strained by a three-year recession exacerbated by high inflation and the coronavirus pandemic.
Argentine growers are also harvesting 2020/21 corn. The ministry said in the report that sales of 32.7 million tonnes of this season's corn crop have been registered so far, 2.3 million tonnes more than had been done at this point last season.
(Reporting by Agustin Geist, editing by Hugh Bronstein Editing by Marguerita Choy)
