October 14, 2004

Italian Soy Harvest Up 25% in 2004

The soy harvest in Italy this year is estimated at 487,000 tons, up 25 percent from last year. 

The estimate was made by ISMEA and Italian soy producers, with harvest already taking place around the country. The increase, explained ISMEA analysts, should be interpreted in light of the meagre harvest in 2003.

The figures on yields were positive, once again around average figures of the past few years, in a year characterised by good weather, especially in spring and summer. Investments, on the contrary, saw a decrease of more than 4 percent, reducing planted fields to 145,500 hectares, compared to 152,000 last year.

On the regional level, Veneto, where half of the national crops are concentrated, makes up for its 2003 losses. Estimates talk of a 284,540 ton harvest, up 47 percent compared to last year. Harvest in Emilia Romagna was also up, with 37,000 tons (up 13.2 percent), and Piedmont, with 25,800 tons (up 40 percent). Friuli and Lombardy were down, with reductions of 1.4 - 2 percent year on year.