The soyabean sector in Russia and Ukraine is expanding despite the ongoing conflict between the two countries, according to a World Grain report citing International Grain Council data.Although still relatively small players in the global soyabean market, Russia and Ukraine were expected to harvest a combined 13.1M tonnes of the oilseed in the 2024/25 marketing year, a 10% increase compared to the previous year, the IGC said.With yields improving modestly and still well below the global average, the IGC said most of the increase had been due to an expansion in planted area.One of the reasons for the increased output was “expanded local demand for derivative products with a range of other factors such as rotational requirements and relative returns compared to alternative crops,” the IGC was quoted as saying in the 17 January report.In Russia, where rising local demand for soyabean products from the feed and food sectors had been driving the sector, the crops were chiefly grown in the eastern and central parts of the country, the IGC said.The IGC estimated Russia’s 2024/25 soyabean production at 7M tonnes, up from 6.7M the previous year.Despite Russia being the largest producer in the region, soyabean imports had remained an important component in the country’s supply and demand balance, with recent intake totalling more than 1.5M tonnes.“Supplies are normally sourced from Brazil and Argentina, but with amounts arriving from Paraguay, for instance, in some seasons,” the IGC said.“However, increased shipments to global markets have resulted in a narrowing of the net import position, to a forecast 400,000 tonnes in 2024/25.”Russian soyabean exports had increased sharply, reaching a peak of 1.3M tonnes in 2022/23 and averaging 1M tonnes over the last five years, with almost all shipments going to China, the IGC said.Despite being invaded by Russia in 2022, Ukraine remains the biggest soyabean exporter in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), accounting for almost 70% of the region’s output during the past five years, according to the IGC.Ukraine was forecast to export a record 3.7M tonnes of soyabeans in 2024/25.“(Ukraine) shipments are normally shaped by demand from EU processors, together with deliveries to destinations in Asia, largely to the Near East (Turkey),” the IGC said.“While sales to CIS countries have dwindled, demand from African buyers has ramped up, with shipments to Egypt surpassing 1M tonnes in 2023/24, the most ever.”Ukraine ranks just behind Russia in soyabean output among CIS countries and is forecast to produce 6.1M tonnes of the crop in 2024/25, an 18% increase compared to the previous year, according to IGC projections.“While the domestic market was initially the main factor stimulating acreage growth, the past decade has witnessed a marked increase in exports,” the IGC said.“Boosted by a shift away from grains amid ideas of relatively better profitability, the area for threshing expanded especially sharply in 2024/25.”Climatologists had noted that climate change could positively impact soyabean production in Russia, particularly in the eastern regions, and parts of Ukraine in coming years as warming temperatures could open new areas for cultivation and potentially increase yields, World Grain wrote.
