Among the largest soybean exporters in the world in 2021, countries from the Americas stood out in the top six positions, according to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Brazil was placed ahead of all, with foreign sales of 38.638 million dollars (+35% year-on-year), followed by the United States (27.523 million, +8%) and Paraguay (2.975 million, +39 percent).
In retrospect, according to the World Bank, food price increases in the 1970s induced a supply response from some South American countries, including Argentina and Brazil.
Today, these two countries account for 17% and 50% of world soybean production, respectively, while in the 1970s they produced practically no soybeans.
During the same period, their share of world maize production has nearly doubled, to around 8 and 4 percent, respectively.
However, high food commodity prices in 2008 and 2011 did not bring new major producers to world food markets.
In fact, the World Bank indicates that some of the factors behind the spikes have been reversed (including falling energy prices and the removal of restrictive trade policies), thereby replenishing stocks of most grains and seeds. oilseeds.
In the current context, if food prices persist, an alternative source of food supply could be the easing of biofuel mandates, which today account for up to 4 percent of global arable land.
Soybean exporters
Soy is an important source of oil and protein that can be used to improve the nutritional value of traditional foods.
Other major exporters of soybeans globally in 2021 were: Argentina (2,691 million dollars, +23% annual) and Canada (2,485 million, +29 percent).
In the subsequent positions were, in descending order, Uruguay, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Russia and Croatia.
The World Bank Agricultural Price Index gained 11% in the first quarter of 2022 (QoQ), reaching an all-time nominal high.
Also, the index is 25% higher than a year ago, with all four subgroups posting similar gains.
The price increase reflected disruptions in the trade of some basic products due to the war in Ukraine, interruptions in the production of wheat (due to the war) and soybeans (due to adverse weather in South America), an increase in of inputs (especially energy and fertilizers), and recover demand for animal feed in the wake of African swine fever in China.
