South Korean soyabean crushing and oil production remains stagnant, according to a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) report.
In the 4 March ‘Korea - Oilseeds and Products Annual’, the USDA forecast 2026/27 soyabean crushing volumes in the country would stay below processing capacity and the three-year average, reflecting weak crushing demand due to favourable global prices for soyabean byproducts.
Korea consumes about 60% of total soyabean supply for crushing, with the remainder used in food processing, according to the report.
Crushing volumes in 2026/27 were forecast to remain at 800,000 tonnes, compared to the national capacity of 1.1M tonnes/year.
According to the operating plans of the two local soyabean crushing companies in Korea, soyabean demand for crushing will decline again in 2026 following the previous year’s reduction.
The 2025/26 estimated crush volume represented a 4% decrease from the previous year, and a 20% drop from the 10-year average of 1M tonnes.
“The recent decline in crushing volume stems from low crushing margins due to favourable global prices for soyabean byproducts, particularly soyabean meal,” the USDA said.
“Considering the general policy outlook for biofuels, Korean crushers do not anticipate significant increases in their crush volume for the foreseeable future.”
Soyabean oil production in 2026/27 was forecast to remain flat at approximately 152,000 tonnes, more than 20% below the five-year average of 193,000 tonnes.
“The below-average production is primarily due to declining soyabean crushing margins driven by the competitive pricing of imported soyabean meal and intensified market competition in the domestic soyabean oil industry from emerging small-and-medium-sized companies selling imported soyabean oil at lower prices,” the USDA said.
As Korea’s two local soyabean crushers used imported soyabeans almost exclusively to produce soyabean oil and soyabean meal, crushing volumes generally comprised around 75% of total soyabean imports.
According to the report, the USA and Brazil continue to dominate the market, with the US share expected to hold steady at about 40%.
Meanwhile, soyabean oil imports continued to rise, offsetting declining domestic crushing to meet demand for soyabean oil as the primary edible oil in the Korean market.
“Shares of US soyabean oil continue to fluctuate based on export availability and increasing competition as Korean buyers diversify to new countries of origin for sourcing crude or refined soyabean oil,” the USDA said.
In January 2026, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) Minister Song Mi-ryung visited a local processing plant to discuss strategies for increasing soyabean oil production from domestic soyabeans.
Soyabean production in Korea was forecast to decline slightly in 2026/27 to 154,000 tonnes, as high government stocks of domestically-produced soyabeans from the previous year continued to accumulate without viable marketing channels, the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) report said.
“The government introduced steep discounts to promote consumption of local soyabeans and reduce the high stocks, but industry still largely prefers imported soyabeans because of price and quality specifications,” the USDA said.
In addition, the Korean government’s announcement that starting in 2026 they would halt voluntary add-ons to the food soyabean World Trade Organization (WTO) tariff-rate quota (TRQ) to promote domestic soyabeans would result in market loss for US exports, the report said.
