South America is further to consolidating its share of the global soyabean market in the current crop year, according to a report by Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Plants and Protein (UFOP).
Brazil was expected to record another bumper crop, while the Argentine crop was projected to fall short of the previous year’s output, the January report said.
Brazil, the USA and Argentina were the world’s main soyabean producers, collectively accounting for 80% of global production, with China following a long way behind with a 5% market share.
According to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates, Brazil is expected to harvest a record 178M tonnes of soyabeans in the current crop year compared to around 171.5M tonnes the previous year.
Based on a 1.7M ha expansion of soyabean area to 49.1M ha, Brazil was consolidating its position as the world’s leading soyabean producer ahead of the USA, the report said.
The US soyabean harvest was complete by the end of 2025, totalling around 116M tonnes, a year-on-year decline of approximately 3.1M tonnes.
Argentina, which ranks third among the world’s most important producers, was also projected to record a slightly smaller harvest than in the previous year.
According to Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft, the country is expected to produce 48.5M tonnes, a decrease of around 2.6M tonnes compared with the previous year.
In contrast, the USDA’s latest estimates indicated that China's harvest would increase by around 0.3M tonnes from the previous year, reaching 20.9M tonnes.
