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The crushing industry in Paraguay processed 1.39M tonnes of soyabeans in the January-June period, down 21.8% compared with the three-year average of 1.77M tonnes, AgriCensus reported the national grain and oilseed crushing chamber Cappro as saying on 23 July.

“Soyabean crushing in June showed a reduction compared to the same month last year... The possibility of reversing this trend is far off and everything points to the end of the third consecutive year with a drop in oilseed industrialisation,” Cappro said in the report, noting it was the fifth such decline in six months.

Paraguay processed 3.3M tonnes of soyabeans in 2020, down 7.9% compared with the three-year average of 3.6M tonnes, according to the report.

Cappro also noted that the crush sector’s overall utilisation rate reached 60% at the end of June, down compared with 71% at the end of June 2020, showing the lowest levels of utilisation since 2013, AgriCensus wrote.

Local exporters were currently facing logistical obstacles to ship soyabeans via the Paraná River due to the very low water levels, a situation that had also affected exporters during most of last year, according to the report.

Cappro was also reported as saying that exports of meal, oil and beans during the January-June period amounted to 4.86M tonnes, down 4% compared with the same period last year.

“This accumulated export volume in the soybean complex represents the worst first semester since the drought of 2012, when the country had exported a little less than 2.64M tonnes,” the chamber said.

Of the total exports in the first half of the year, soyabeans contributed 3.73M tonnes, soya meal added 873,746 tonnes and soyabean oil another 239,314 tonnes, AgriCensus said.