BUENOS AIRES, June 25 (Reuters) - The pace of Argentine soybean sales in the current harvesting season is roughly in line with that of the past two cycles, official data showed on Tuesday, with sales through last week reaching 43.5% of the current crop, or 21.6 million metric tons.
Some 464,100 tons of 2023/24 soybeans were sold between June 12 and June 19, according to Argentina's bioeconomy secretariat.
Soybean sales, a critical source of foreign currency for Argentina's cash-strapped government, had lagged in the year's early months.
Around 43% of the expected soybean crop was harvested at this point in the season in both the 2021/22 and 2022/23 cycles.
Argentina is the No. 1 global exporter of processed soybeans, in addition to being a major producer of corn and wheat.
The harvesting of 2023/24 the soy crop was 98.3% complete through last week, according to the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, which forecasts total soybean production to reach 50.5 million tons. (Reporting by Maximilian Heath in Buenos Aires Editing by Matthew Lewis)
