Record soyabean production is forecast in the 2024/25 marketing year in India due to a favourable monsoon and normal weather conditions, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data reported by World Grain.
The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) raised its production outlook slightly from the previous forecast to 12.8M tonnes, 100,000 tonnes higher than the previous year’s record total, the 10 September report said.
“The early monsoon supported soyabean sowing and an increase in the planting area by almost 1% for 2024/25, compared to 2023/24,” the FAS said.
Yields forecasts were also slightly higher at 0.98 tonnes/ha.
In addition, soyabean crushing continued to increase, the report said. In 2023-24, crushing increased by 12% year-on-year to 12.6M tonnes, and was expected to rise to 12.7M tonnes this year, driven by strong export demand for soyabean meal.
The FAS revised its soyabean meal production estimate for India by 6% from earlier this year to 9.36M tonnes.
Soyabean oil production was forecast significantly higher compared to the FAS’s previous estimate earlier this year, rising 11% from 1.98M tonnes to 2.2M tonnes “as strong domestic demand for vegetable oil is expected to raise the crush-to-oil availability”.
With expectations of lower international soyabean oil prices, the FAS raised its import forecast to 3.7M tonnes, an increase of 21% compared to 2023/24.