The Argentine government has lifted a temporary block on exports of soyabean oil and soyabean meal to create a wheat stabilisation fund against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Biofuels Digest wrote on 21 March.
In place of the block, the government has increased export retentions on the two products from 31% to 33%, according to the report.
Biodiesel retentions were also increased by 1%, the report said, but the government was confident the move would not affect exports.
In an earlier announcement on 13 March, the Argentine government had announced a block on the two commodities, Nasdaq quoted from a Reuters report on 14 March.
Argentina is forecast to account for 48% of global soyabean oil and 41% of soyabean meal exports in the 2021/22 marketing year, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
Meanwhile, top palm oil producer Indonesia had announced that it was set to expand a policy requiring companies to sell 30% of exports domestically, up from 20%, which had pushed palm prices to record levels, the report said.
The Indonesian government’s move followed a call by agriculture ministers of the G7 group of nations on 11 March urging global food exporting countries not to restrict food exports after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had cut world supplies, including sunflower oil.
