March 28, 2006

EU increases soymeal imports in past three years
 

Imports of soyoil and soymeal have increased over the last three years in the EU, with Brazil as the largest supplier, according to a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report dated Mar 27.

The EU-25 is the world's largest importer of soymeal, accounting for almost one-half of all the soymeal imported. Soybeans imported to the EU come mainly from Brazil, while soybean imports from the US have declined, mainly because Brazilian soybeans generally have a higher protein and oil content.

"Another reason for increased EU imports from Brazil is that European crushers prefer non-GM soybeans, and those are more available in Brazil," the USDA pointed out.

On the other hand, as biofuel demand ups crush margins for rapeseed, crushers in the EU switched from soybean to rapeseed. For both soybean and rapeseed crushers, processing costs have increased quite sharply as a result of much higher energy costs in the EU, the USDA said. 

However, the turnover of EU crushers from soybeans to rapeseed is now affecting soybean imports negatively. In January 2006, the soybean processing in the EU was down 18 percent on the year, the USDA said. 

Meanwhile the USDA also reported that the German rapeseed industry has funded research and started promotions to overcome farmer bias against the use of rapeseed meal in livestock production. 

"This bias stems from the time when rapeseed, and consequently rapeseed meal, still contained high amounts of eruric acid and glucosinulates, which caused animals to stay away from the feed or resulted in digestion problems," the USDA explained. 

"However, with the new varieties of rapeseed this is no longer the case, and farmers can increase the use of rapeseed meal in the feed without these adverse consequences," it added.

For the full USDA report, click here.