Over the last twelve months, the price of soybeans in EUR has risen by around 70% and remains at a very high level with little prospect of a substantial price recovery. The reasons for this massive price increase are manifold:
Worldwide, around 92% of the soybean harvest is used in animal feed and around 8% in food processing. Soy proteins are one of the preferred non-animal protein sources, providing food manufacturers with good cost control and profitability for their products and offering many applications, including baked goods, confectionery, emulsified meat products, dairy alternatives, functional beverages and breakfast cereals. At the same time, the global harvest fell by around 7% in 2019/20.
In Europe, the demand for non-GMO soy exceeds the amount available; a situation that has been exacerbated by massive purchases of soybeans by Russia (200,000mt) and China (35,000mt). Now that African swine fever has subsided, stocks in China are being increased again, with a corresponding demand for soy in the animal feed sector.
Extreme rainfall in China in 2020 destroyed part of the maize harvest due to flooding. As a result, the Chinese government is currently calling for and promoting the cultivation of maize, which could lead to a stagnating to slightly declining soybean harvest.
The major producing countries Brazil and Canada do not currently offer any non-GM products on the global market and are therefore not helping to ease the price.
Limited shipping capacities and high freight rates are also making trade products between Asia and Europe more expensive, especially soy protein isolates and concentrates.
EUROSOY has proven to be an extremely reliable supplier to the European food industry during this tense phase. In addition to soy protein isolates and concentrates, alternative vegetable proteins are playing an increasingly important role in supplying the food industry with non-animal proteins.
Sources:
https://www.finanzen.net/rohstoffe/sojapreis (27.4.2021)
Company presentation Soja Austria Produktions GmbH: "Soybean purchasing April 2021"