Yanina Otero 
In the first two months of the year, grains exports totaled just over 7.8 million tonnes, almost double the same period last year when 4 million tonnes were exported. The increase is due to the end of the drought, which is crucial for foreign exchange earnings.
Cargill and Viterra top the list of companies that control the business, following the collapse of Vicentin.
Thus, the U.S. multinational Cargill led shipments of unprocessed grains with 15% of the total, which is about 1.8 million tonnes. Second place went to Dreyfus with 900,000 tonnes (12%), third to Argentina’s ACA with 864,000 tonnes (11%), and fourth, U.S. company Bunge with 839,000 tonnes (11%).
Meanwhile, the fifth, sixth, and seventh places were for Cofco with 817,000 tons (10%), ADM with 772,000 tonnes (10%), and Viterra with 566,000 tonnes (7%), respectively. Other companies account for no more than 1.5%.
It is worth noting that because of the timing of the harvest, the first two months of the year are a period when the new soybean harvest — and therefore, processed products such as oil and meal — have not yet come in. This will begin to show up in the statistics, and especially in foreign exchange earnings, in the coming weeks.
Shipments of by-products and oils
When it comes to shipment of by-products, Viterra is the undisputed leader. In the first two months it exported 20% of the total, which rose to 3.2 million tonnes from 2.1 million in the same period of 2023.
Meanwhile, Cargill was second with 493,000 tons (15%), Argentina’s Aceitera General Deheza (AGD) with 467,000 tons (15%), Bunge fourth with 443,000 tonnes (14%), Molinos Agro fifth with 396,000 tonnes (12%), followed closely by Dreyfus in sixth place with 387,000 tonnes (12%).
Finally, concerning oil shipments, the list and positions in the ranking are very similar to the by-products. Viterra leads with 29% (186,000 tonnes of a total of 640,500 tonnes).
Completing the table are Argentina’s Unión Agrícola de Avellaneda with 15% (93,000 tonnes) and Molinos Agro with 14% (88,000 tonnes), followed closely by the giant Dreyfus with 14%, representing 87,900 tonnes. Bunge is well behind with 4% (22,900 tonnes).
