by PressOilseeds production: forecast by the American service USDA
Oilseeds production in several countries will increase: reasons
The agricultural market is experiencing difficult times due to the high risk of a food crisis. The main reason for this is a decline in supplies from major exporters due to the geopolitical conflict. The situation is aggravated by the reduction in the supply of fertilizers, without which crop yields can be significantly reduced. To reduce the need for substances for plant nutrition, Argentina has decided to increase its production of oilseeds.
This season local farmers planted 17 million hectares of soybeans, which is 0.65 million hectares more than last year. This change is due to a lack of fertilizers on the global market, and soybean production requires fewer fertilizers than other crops. Thanks to the expansion of planted areas, oilseed production will reach about 50 million tons, 10 million tons more than last year’s result. According to estimates of analysts of the American agricultural service FAS USDA, export supplies should reach 6.5 million tons, which is almost twice as much as in the previous period.
In addition, FAS USDA notes an increase in the area under sunflowers planted to 2 million hectares, last season the crop was planted on 0.35 million hectares less. The decision to expand sunflower production in Argentina is due to the high price of corn. Local farmers expect that the harvest in the current season will reach 4 million tons, which will be a record volume for the last 15 years.
Strategie Grains experts revised its forecast for the gross harvest of sunflowers in the European Union. It is expected that in the current marketing year its volume will amount to 10.66 million tons, which is 2.9% more than last season. Earlier analysts had predicted 10.2 million tons. The reason for the revision of the production estimation was an increase in the areas under crops, their area grew to 4.68 million hectares, which is 6.5% more than the previous figures. At the same time, experts warn that the yield might be 3.4% lower compared to the previous season and reach about 2.3 tons per hectare.
As for the volume of rapeseed production in the EU countries, it is estimated at 18.2 million tons. This is 6.8% more than the results of the previous marketing year. The soybean harvest is expected to be in the range of 2.9 million tons, it grows on just over 1 million hectares.
USDA expects increased production of oilseeds in Turkey. Totally the experts are predicting an increase of 8% compared to 2021/2022. The analysts consider that one of the factors of such increase is the increase in prices on the world agricultural market, which in turn is a good incentive for local farmers.