Soyabean production in the EU-27 is expected to fall slightly short of the previous year’s level in 2025, according to an updated estimate by the European Commission (EC) reported by Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Plants and Protein (UFOP).
The drop was due to a 7% reduction in planted area for the 2025 harvest, the 10 December report said.
Forecast yield increases to 27.8 decitonnes/ha – up from 26.8 decitonnes/ha the previous year – as well as long-term average yields will not offset the decline in planted area, according to the report.
Although the EC marginally had raised its forecast for EU soyabean production in 2025 by approximately 18,000 tonnes compared to its October estimate, to reach just under 2.9M tonnes, the estimate would still be a year-on-year decrease of 106,000 tonnes, the report said.
Italy remained the EU’s leading soyabean-producing country, with output totalling 1.1M tonnes, followed by France with 387,000 tonnes.
Harvests in the Balkan states were projected to fall short of the previous year’s levels, particularly Romania with an output of 245,000 tonnes representing a year-on-year decrease of 54,000 tonnes.
According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft, German farmers harvested 134,000 tonnes of soyabeans, an increase of almost 2% compared to the previous year.
