Browse Data and Analysis

The Black Sea region is a significant supplier of agricultural commodities to the world. Over the past year, global grain and oilseed markets have been roiled by the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine.

The 2022 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook provides a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world during the 2022 calendar year.

Despite being one of the largest oil palm-producing countries, Nigeria relies on imports to bridge its supply gap. Private sector investors are expanding oil palm production and increasing processing capacity to take advantage of the prevailing strong domestic and international market demand and high prices.

Post forecasts that Brazilian producers will expand soybean planted area to reach 45.2 million hectares (ha) in 2023/24 season, up from the estimated 43.5 mn ha planted in the 2022/23 season.

Egyptian traders and crushers continue to demand sustainability and quality of supply, both of which are key features of U.S.-origin soybean. This demand produced another record year for U.S.-origin soybean exports to Egypt with 4.07 MMT in exports, was by far Egypt’s largest supplier of soybeans in marketing year 2021/22.

South Africa has experienced an upsurge in oilseed plantings over the past 20 years with a near nine-fold expansion in soybean area. Post foresees that the positive trend in soybean plantings will continue in marketing year 2023/24 with area and oilseed production reaching historically high level of 1.8 million hectares and 3.6 million metric tons, respectively.

Post lowers its 2022/2023 estimate for Argentine soybean production to 23.9 million metric tons (MMT). This production estimate is the lowest in 24 year and the yield estimate is the lowest in almost 50 years. As a result of the drought, Post estimates that Argentina will need to import a record 11 MMT of soybeans to achieve a crush of 29.5 MMT.

FAS Bangkok (Post) expects soybean imports to rebound in Marketing Year (MY) 2022/23 and further increase to around 4 million metric tons in MY2023/24, driven by strong demand for poultry and swine feed.

In MY 2021/22, the total value of Japan’s soybean imports reached a historical record while rapeseed crush hit the lowest point in 10 years as rapeseed imports from Canada declined.

Since the Netherlands lifted all COVID-19 related restrictions at the end of February 2022 and most people returned to the workplace, new opportunities continue to emerge for U.S. agricultural products. Consumers are especially interested in healthier, more convenient, nutritious, and high-quality products.

Taiwan’s soybean imports are forecast at 2.65 MMT for MY2022/2023 and MY2023/2024. In MY 2021/2022, Taiwan imports of soybeans reached a record high of $1.74 billion. To stabilize commodity prices and reduce inflationary pressure for consumers, since February 2022 Taiwan has waived business taxes on imported soybeans, currently set to expire on June 30, 2023.

FAS Manila forecasts copra production at 3 million MT for MY 2023/24 because of the coming El Niño and the break from the 3-year productive cycle. Soybean meal imports are projected to reach 2.9 million MT because of expected expansion in the broiler and aquaculture sectors.