September 9, 2009

EU is likely to sharply cut soy imports in coming months partly due to tough EU rules stopping imports of unapproved genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday (Sep 8).

Oil World said US is going to harvest a record soy crop this autumn but the EU's zero-tolerance policy regarding unapproved GM varieties is blocking imports of US soy.

The EU's ban on any residues of non-approved GMOs such as corn is disrupting soy imports as whole shiploads run the risk of being turned back if traces of non-approved types are found.

EU September 2009 to August 2010 soy imports are likely to fall to 12.8 million tonnes from 14.2 million tonnes in the same year-ago period, it said.

EU soy crushers will face great difficulties in satisfying their requirements and their capacity utilisation could decline significantly, it said.

South America will not be an immediate alternative as soy stocks in Argentina and Brazil were estimated to be 15 million tonnes below 2008 levels at the end of August this year following poor harvests, it said.

EU oilseed crushers were likely to sharply increase rapeseed and sunflower seed crushing due to the soy problems, it said.

EU 2009-10 rapeseed crushings were likely to rise to 21.30 million tonnes from 20.19 million tonnes in 2008-09, it forecast, while sunseed crushings were likely to rise to 6.10 million tonnes from 5.92 million tonnes in 2008-09.