World Grain - August 2014 - 44

REGIONAL REVIEW: OVERFLOWING WITH OILSEEDS

in 2013 showed that soybean planting occurs in just 0.7% of the Amazon
Biome's total deforested area," it said.
"Therefore, soybeans are not a relevant
vector in deforestation. Ninety-nine percent of the deforestation in that Biome
is the result of other productive activities, such as agriculture and livestock
farming, settlements under the agrarian reform program, inadequate forest
management, steel industry (coal), civil
construction, furniture industry and real
estate speculation."

varieties. Across the board, farmers noted the additional pest control - especially protection against the helicoverpa
caterpillar - and yield increase. Based
on farmers' desires for seeds, these new
varieties could see their use double in
the next harvest."
Brazilian producers are also pushing
forward with irrigation. "Possessing
20% of the planet's fresh water, Brazil
has tremendous potential to expand
planted area via irrigation projects that
make possible second and third crops
rotated over a yearly growing season,"
the attaché said. "Currently, about 8.3%
of all cropland is under irrigation, which
represents 4.5 million hectares. The vast
majority of soybeans under irrigation
are for seed production. Recent historically high crop prices have greatly
improved the timeframe for return on
investment with the main constraints
being water use licenses and capital investment requirements. Large irrigation
project investments are increasing soybean planted area."
Brazilian producers have had to fend
off accusations that the industry is damaging the Amazon rainforest. Industry
body ABIOVE moved to refute press
reports earlier this year.
"The results obtained in the Soy
Moratorium's sixth monitoring cycle
44

ARGENTINEAN PRODUCTION TO RISE
USDA officials in Argentina predict a
rise in soybean production. "For marketing year 2014-15, the USDA forecasts
soybean area to increase to 20.6 million
hectares with production estimated at
57.5 million tonnes," their annual report
said. "Sunflower area is estimated to recover slightly to 1.55 million hectares
and peanut area will remain stable at
340,000 hectares.
"Soybeans continue to be the 'safe'
and 'easy' crop. Input costs for soybeans are lower than for other commodities. For example, it cost more
than twice as much to produce corn
than it does to produce soybeans.
Furthermore, the margins for first crop
soybeans are higher than any other
crop grown in Argentina. Although export taxes are high, there are no export
restrictions or quotas for soybeans as
there are for grains."
The attaché in Buenos Aires also produced an annual report on Paraguay's
oilseeds sector. "Paraguayan soybean
area is estimated to increase by 3% to
3.2 million hectares in the 2014-15
marketing year with production reaching a record 8.7 million tonnes," it
said. "Soybean production has changed
Paraguayan agriculture. In the past two
decades, area dedicated to the crop has
tripled, growing steadily at an average
rate of 6% per year."
There is plenty of land in Paraguay
and production could expand to 4 million hectares in the next five to 10 years,
the attaché said. "The additional area will

come from pasture land that remains in
the main production region of eastern and
southeastern Paraguay and from growth in
the northeastern provinces of San Pedro,
Canindyú, Caaguazu, and Concepción."
It also noted an increase in crushing
capacity. "In the past two years, crushing capacity has more than doubled in
Paraguay," it said. "Previously, more
than three-quarters of Paraguay's soybeans were exported as whole beans,
but by next year, more than half will be
processed in-country and then exported
as meal and oil."
Crush capacity in 2014-15 was estimated to be over 4.5 million tonnes,
compared with 1.8 million two years
earlier. "There has been an enormous
amount of investment in the crushing
industry with two new large plants recently constructed," it said. "Both an
ADM crushing facility with 1.2 million
tonnes crush capacity and a joint project
by Louis Dreyfuss, Bunge, and Copagra
(CAIASA) with crush capacity of 1.1
million tonnes are operating at full capacity this year."
The attaché actually predicts reduced
area for Uruguay. "Producers are expected to rotate more corn, sorghum and
winter crops to meet the requirements
under the natural resources management
plan for soil erosion management and
water conservation," an annual report
on the sector says.
"Historically, the crushing industry
in Uruguay has been marginal as the
majority of Uruguay's production is exported as whole beans," it said. "This
is a changing scenario as new crushing
facilities and biodiesel plants have been
constructed to help meet the national
biodiesel mandate."
Even so. almost 95% of the crop
goes abroad as beans, with China a
major customer, taking three-quarters
of exports.
Chris Lyddon is World Grain's European editor. He
may be contacted at: chris.lyddon@ntlworld.com.
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