BUENOS AIRES: Argentina soyabean sales surged last week to 74.2% of the current harvest, helped by a preferential exchange rate, though sales trailed the totals seen at the same point last year, the government said Wednesday.

Producers sold 556,000 tonnes in the week of Nov. 24-30, the highest weekly figure in months, the agricultural secretariat said, though the season’s sales so far still lag the 76.9% of last season’s crop sold at the same point a year ago.

Argentina is the world’s top exporter of processed soya, and the grain is a critical source of foreign currency for the government. Last week, sales spiked after officials reinstated a temporary preferential exchange rate for producers, the so-called “soya dollar” foreign exchange rate.

The secretariat also reported Wednesday that the country had sold 72.8% of its 59-million-tonne 2021/22 corn crop, down from the 75.3% seen in the same period the previous cycle.

The planting of corn for the 2022/23 cycle began in September in Argentina, the third largest exporter of the cereal, although a prolonged drought slowed its growth and resulted in the smallest area planted in six years, data from the major Rosario grains exchange showed.