October 21, 2004

Brazil To Lead Global Soybean Output Increase

Global soybean output may rise by a third in the next six years. This comes as Brazil, the largest producer after the US, uses more land to meet growing Chinese demand, according to LMC International Ltd., an agricultural commodities researcher.

China's consumption of soybean meal, used to feed livestock, is forecast to expand by about 7.5 percent each year through 2010. And that compares with annual global demand growth of 4.5 percent.

World soybean production may reach 250 million metric tons by 2010, from 190 million tons this year, revealed James Fry, managing director of London-based LMC International.

Brazil would contribute the biggest increase and account for almost a third of global output by the end of the decade, he said.

"South America will increasingly dominate the foreign trade in soybeans and soybean products in the future, once again led by Brazil,'' Fry stated.

Brazil could bring into production land equal to what the US currently cultivates, he added.

Brazil's government plans to spend $570 million rebuilding roads by the next harvest to improve infrastructure and help its exporters compete. Rising output of soybeans, cotton and rice have helped fuel a 33 percent surge in exports this year that has led South America's biggest economy out of recession.

The country's soybean production may reach 77 million tons in 2010, Fry said. Brazil produced 49.23 million tons of soybeans from its last harvest, the government said on Sept. 30.