December 11, 2007

 

US soy exports increase by 18 percent in volume this year

 

 

The volume of soy that the US exported worldwide climbed by 18 percent at 30.29 million tonnes in 2006/07 from 25.51 million tonnes in 2005/06, according to USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service report.

 

The FAS service report covers marketing year 2006/07, ending on August 31, 2007.

 

China ranks as the largest offshore consumer with imports reaching 11.45 million tonnes from 9.70 million tonnes last year, increasing by 18 percent. Fueled by higher demand from meat sector, China consumed the highest soy produce this year.

 

Mexico made the second largest purchase of 3.83 million tonnes this year from 3.60 million tonnes, a 7-percent increase.

 

Japan imported 3.16 million tonnes this year compared to last year's 3.02 million-tonne import, an increase of 140,700 tonnes or 5 percent.

 

The fourth largest consumer of US soy is Taiwan with imports rising from 1.85 million tonnes last year to 1.94 million tonnes this year, also climbing by 5 percent this year.

 

Indonesia's US soy purchase was at 1.45 million tonnes from 1.21 million tonnes, a growth of 20 percent.

 

Thailand also showed a significant rise on its imports from 289,800 tonnes to 531,500 tonnes this year, a 78-percent increase.

 

However, it was EU-27's US soy imports that indicated a very sharp rise of 70 percent from 2.12 million tonnes to 3.62 million tonnes on-year. One factor that affected the increase in imports is the lower local grain production for the animal feed sector.

 

Netherlands and Germany were the major importers in the region purchasing 1.44 million tonnes and 1.04 million tonnes respectively this year.

 

Netherlands' US soy imports increased by 31 percent or 346,000 tonnes more than last year's total import of 1.10 million tonnes.

 

Meanwhile, Germany's US soy imports tripled to 1.05 million tonnes.