July 30, 2007

 

ASA weekly: Farm programme overhaul defeated in House; India approves imports of soyoil from Roundup beans; India cuts import duties on edible oils; New US biodiesel projects announced

 

 

Overhaul of farm programme defeated in House
 

Farm state lawmakers, allied with House Democratic leaders, on Jul 26 defeated a proposal for a major overhaul of traditional farm programmes that would have pared subsidies to big growers and spread benefits more broadly. The 309 to 117 votes came on the first day of debate on a multiyear farm bill.

 

The amendment was billed as this year's major challenge to an entrenched farm-subsidy system. This defeat was a setback for a coalition of environmental organizations, anti-hunger groups and religious leaders who favour shifting more funds to conservation, nutrition and other priorities.

 

India approves imports of soyoil from Roundup beans
 

India's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) approved imports of soyoil derived from Roundup Ready soybeans for consumption after refining, the only biotech food product approved for import to date, according to a USDA attache report.

 

Although India exports cotton and cottonseed meal, the biotech issue has not come to the forefront.  However, India does not export any significant quantity of cotton or cottonseed meal to the United States.  Food aid received by India is now mostly confined to refined soybean oil from the United States under PL 480 Title II for which the requisite GEAC approval was obtained in 2002.

 

As India is one of the leading importers of vegetable oils, including soybean oil, USDA said concerns about high domestic vegetable oil prices forced the government to give a special exemption to commercial imports of soybean oil derived from Roundup Ready soybeans until Dec 31, 2007.  No other biotech food products are officially permitted for commercial import or are awaiting approval for import to date.

 

India cuts import duties on edible oils

 

Last week, as part of measures to rein in prices of essential food items, India's government cut import duties on edible oil by up to 10 percentage points. The customs duty on crude soyoil has been reduced to 40 percent from 45 percent.

 

Meanwhile, the customs duty for palm oil has been reduced to 45 percent from 50 percent, while that for refined palmolein refined, bleached, deodorised is now 52.7 percent from 57.5 percent, a spokesperson for the Central Board of Excise and Customs said.

 

Officials from India's edible oil industry suggested that the move could pave the way for a decline in retail prices by about Rs1/kg (US$0.0247/kg) in soyoil and palm oil.

 

"International prices have gone up in the past month by over US$100/tonne. To offset that effect, the government it seems, has decided to give relief to consumers," B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors Association of India said.

 

However, he cautioned that prices of palm oil, RBD palmolein, soyoil and sunflower oil would only ease if exporters do not hike their prices and the entire benefit accrues to India.

 

New US biodiesel projects announced

• Iowa Renewable Energy has started producing biodiesel in Washington, Iowa. The 30 million gallon biodiesel plant processes raw soyoil. 
   
• Scott Petroleum Biodiesel of Greenville, Mississippi, has started producing at its 20 million gallon facility. The plant cost more than US$22 million to build, according to company sources, and the feedstock is soybean oil.
   
• SeQuential-Pacific Biodiesel LLC, a subsidiary of Pacific Biodiesel, has started to expand its 1 million gallon facility in Salem, Oregon, to a production capacity of 5 million by summer 2008.
   
• Biodiesel producer Renewable Energy Group has started production at its 30 million gallon Iowa Renewable Energy LLC multi-feedstock plant in Washington, Iowa. The state's biodiesel production capacity is now seen at above 225 million gallons a year.
   
• Officials recently broke ground on the Maple River Energy biodiesel plant near Galva, Iowa. The plant will produce 5 million gallons of biodiesel a year processing 3 million bushels of soybeans. USDA rural development provided a US$10 million guaranteed loan for the new plant.

U.S. & South America Soybean/Products Balance

	United States			Argentina			Brazil
	Actual	Estimate	Proj.	Actual	Estimate	Proj.	Actual	Estimate	Proj.
	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07
Soybeans	thousand tonnes
Carryin	3,059	6,960	12,229	2,434	514	579	3,598	1,638	2,252
Production	85,013	83,368	86,770	39,000	40,500	45,500	53,000	57,000	58,800
Imports	152	92	109	708	900	725	352	40	100
Crush	46,160	47,320	48,036	29,560	32,600	37,150	29,728	28,756	29,400
Exports	30,011	25,778	29,393	10,548	7,200	7,550	22,799	24,770	26,700
Other	5,093	5,093	4,951	1,520	1,535	1,516	2,785	2,900	2,974
Usage	81,264	78,191	82,380	41,628	41,335	46,216	55,312	56,426	59,074
Carryout	6,960	12,229	16,728	514	579	588	1,638	2,252	2,078
Soymeal	thousand tonnes
Carryin	191	156	285	564	671	564	841	640	894
Production	36,936	37,414	37,939	23,347	25,687	29,250	22,928	22,327	22,800
Domestic use	30,446	30,097	30,527	538	544	550	9,121	10,000	10,644
Net Exports	6,525	7,188	7,425	22,702	25,250	28,700	14,008	12,073	12,215
Usage	36,971	37,285	37,952	23,240	25,794	29,250	23,129	22,073	22,859
Carryout	156	285	272	671	564	564	640	894	835
Soybean oil	thousand tonnes
Carryin	488	771	1,370	91	35	32	293	248	250
Production	8,781	9,250	9,069	5,404	6,000	6,850	5,708	5,521	5,625
Domestic use	7,910	8,144	8,505	378	428	683	3,059	3,222	3,335
Net exports	588	507	667	5,082	5,575	6,166	2,694	2,297	2,292
Usage	8,498	8,651	9,172	5,460	6,003	6,849	5,753	5,519	5,627
Carryout	771	1,370	1,267	35	32	33	248	250	248

USDA Export Sales (tmt) - Week of 19 July 2007 

Country	Commodity	New	Accum.		Country	Commodity	New	Accum.
		Sales	Exports				Sales	Exports
Barbados	Soybeans	3	22.1		Indonesia	Soymeal	7.3	51.4
China	Soybeans	60	11010.4		Japan	Soymeal	2.3	291.3
Colombia	Soybeans	12.1	272.9		Mexico	Soymeal	1.7	1130.7
Egypt	Soybeans	27.2	735.5		Morocco	Soymeal	5	82.6
Indonesia	Soybeans	4.4	1386.8		Philippines	Soymeal	6.4	337.9
Japan	Soybeans	114	2803.6		Canada	Soyoil	0.5	29.5
Malaysia	Soybeans	23.9	286		Dom. Rep.	Soyoil	3.1	11.2
Mexico	Soybeans	18.3	3383.7		Mexico	Soyoil	7.4	77.4
Taiwan	Soybeans	65.3	1723		Venezuela	Soyoil	7.5	0
Canada	Soymeal	15.1	1082.1		Export Sales Totals (tmt)
Colombia	Soymeal	9.4	248.2		Commodity	Outstanding	Accum.	New
Dom. Rep.	Soymeal	7.1	338.5			Sales	Exports	Sales
Guatemala	Soymeal	0.9	259.8		Soybeans	2,119.10	28,499.70	288.4
Honduras	Soymeal	11.1	109.3		Soymeal	1,246.00	5,452.00	87
Hong Kong	Soymeal	0.7	15.6		Soyoil	75	467	33.7