BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA —Argentina’s farmers have sold 78.9% of their 2021-22 soybean crop, slightly lagging the previous year’s 80% sold at the same time, Reuters reported, citing the agriculture ministry.

Soybean sales spiked in November after the government revived a policy that allowed farmers to tap a preferential exchange rate, which is meant to attract US dollars, for transactions of the grain. The policy was set to end Dec. 30.

Between Dec. 15 and Dec. 21, producers in Argentina sold 730,300 tonnes of the 44 million-tonne 2021-22 soybean crop, one of the highest weekly figures in recent months. Argentina is the world's leading exporter of soymeal, as well as a major supplier of corn and wheat.

The government said 74% of the country's 2021-22 corn crop, which totaled 59 million tonnes, had been sold to date, behind the 76.8% sold in the same period during the 2020-21 cycle.