June 15, 2012

Russia to increase soy output twofold in the next five years

Russia's soy yield will almost double in the next five years, according to the executive director of LLC "Trade House Sodruzhestvo" Sergei Sokolovsky.

Sokolovsky said that the increase will happen mostly due to the significant growth of Russian's meat and poultry industries up to 2020. Thus, an increase in domestic soy production will happen due to stable domestic demand, high and predictable margins and the government's aim to development Russia's soy market.

In general, the production and consumption of soy over the last 5 years has tripled. Farmers collected a record amount of 1.75 million tonnes of soy in 2011. Consumption went from 0.95 million tonnes in 2009 to 0.84 million tonnes in 2011.

Sokolovsky also pointed out that the existing capacity of oil-bearing processing facilities in the Russian is estimated at 13.2 million tonnes, which is almost equal to the production of oil-bearing crops in 2011.

At the same time, experts predict that Russia's accession to the WTO will in the future open the door for the export of soy - primarily to Europe and the Middle East. With regard to Russia's entering to WTO, Sokolovsky noted that this will lead to the cancellation of import duties on rapeseed and soymeal and a reduction of import duties on sunflower seeds to 2.5% by 2013. As well as the complete cancellation of export tax on soy until 2016 and reduce it for rape and sunflower seeds to 6.5% within 4 years.