April 18, 2012

Compared to marketing year (MY) 2012 levels, Bollivia's soy production in the MY 2013 (March/February) is forecast at 2.4 million tonnes, up 8.6%.

Soy is the most important crop in Bolivia, the harvested area of soy in MY 2012 is estimated at 1.055 million hectares. There are about 14,000 soy producers in Bolivia.

With exports of 1.18 million tonnes in calendar year (CY) 2011, soy meal is the third largest Bolivian export and the largest agricultural export. The Andean region is Bolivia's only market for soy products.

The Bolivian government has approved legislation that severely hampers Bolivian farmers from making profits. These regulations are designed to allow price regulation to maintain domestic prices low.

However, the results will be exactly the opposite, since all these initiatives will translate in reduced investment, less area planted, lower production and finally higher prices. Such measures include: land reform, conservation obligations and export bans.

Though soy production has not been affected yet due to good international prices and relatively low local demand other crops such as corn have been negatively impacted.