Buenos Aires, August 29th. Through its subsidiary Oleaginosas Moreno, giant agribusiness company Glencore is heading the ranking of barley exporters from Argentina. According to the official data provided by the Ministry of Ag-Industry, in 2017 it was exported 2.52 million metric tons of barley, and Oleaginosas Moreno (OM) was at top of the list with 522,841 tons or 21% of the total.
In the latest years, OM surpassed its main competitors like Toepfer (owned by ADM), Maltería Pampa (owned by Ambev Group) and the Asociación de Cooperativas Argentinas (largest local farmers cooperative). This year, with data updated to May, OM leads again the exporters ranks with 442,417 tons over a total of 1.93 MMT or 23% of the total.
Barley annual exports from Argentina ranged from 1.47 MMT (2015) to 3.21 MMT (2013). In 2017, the ten top exporters were the following:
Source: Ministry of Ag-Industry. Volume in tons. 2018 exports correspond to the Jan-May period.
It’s remarkable the participation of national companies in this business. Alea is a grain storage company based at Southeast of Buenos Aires Province, focused in barley, wheat and rapeseed business. Founded in middles 90’s, Alea diversified its business units to exports and farming, and its one of the investor at Quequen port terminal, Sitio 0 (Zero Site).
E-grain its the export company of the Nari family, well known as cereal broker at the local place. Founded in 2007, E-grain operates with specialties, like High oleic sunflower seeds, durum wheat, Flint (red) corn and barley, plus the commodities grains.
Gear is a traditional farming, input distributor, and export company, based in Rojas, in the Northeast of Buenos Aires Province. Owned by Gear family, this company is about to turn one hundred years.
And Curcija is another traditional agribusiness company, founded by Juan Curcija in 1940. The company operates both in commodity markets as in specialties, like popcorn, confectionary sunflower seed, and pulses.
Arab countries were de main importers of Argentine barley in 2017. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Oman purchased 1.33 MMT or more than a half of total exports. Brazil, Perú, and Colombia were another remarkable importers, accounting 0.82 MMT. Finally, India acquired 0.15 MMT and was another of the top importers, last year.
