BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA — Argentina’s oilseed sector is in a good position for the 2020-21 harvest following oilseed worker strikes and dry weather, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Despite the challenges in December 2020 and early 2021, the oilseed workers union and Argentinian government have come to a new deal and rains in January helped circumvent some of the dry weather.

The USDA forecasts Argentina’s 2020-21 marketing year soybean production to be 47.5 million tonnes, a 2.5-million-tonne decrease compared to its January estimate. The soybean harvest is anticipated to be later than normal, due to unusual weather patterns, late planting and single crop soybeans in the core growing region are running behind their normal developmental progression, even with the January rain.

The USDA maintains its 2020-21 marketing year soybean crush forecast to total 41 million tonnes.