Global soyabean output to decline to record low

PTI
NEW DELHI, JUNE 10:
Global soyabean production is expected to decline by 10 per cent to a record low of 240 million tonnes in 2011-12 season due to adverse weather and low yields in the main producing nations such as Brazil, China and the US, United Nation’s body FAO has said.

The world is estimated to have harvested 265.3 million tonnes of soyabean in 2010-11 crop season (October-September), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

“Overall, global soy production is bound to decrease by almost 10 per cent, one of the steepest year-on-year falls on record,” the agency pointed out in its latest Food outlook report.

The production in the US is expected to decline due to lower plantings and poor yields, it added.

While, the output in South America’s three main growers, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay is forecast to fall owing to exceptionally dry weather caused by the La Nina phenomenon and decimated yields in some of the key growing areas, despite an increase in area, FAO said.

In China there is a marked drop in its soyabean output mainly a result of further cuts in area, it said.

According to the global body on the farm sector, India is the only country which is forecasting a positive trend.

“This leaves India as the only important soyabean producer reporting an increase in production,” FAO noted.

According to the latest estimates by India’s Agriculture Ministry, the country is expected to harvest 12.23 million tonnes of soyabean in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June) as compared to 12.73 million tonnes in the 2010-11 crop year.

FAO has also forecast that the total oilseed output worldwide is expected to fall by almost 4 per cent to 440.2 million tonnes in 2011-12 crop season from 457.3 million tonnes in the year-ago period.