Soy behaviour in the South Asia region with special reference to the India

Dr. Yadu Nandan, Consultant –
Animal Feed Program
United States Soybean
Export Council

World’s soy meal dependence increased by 24.63 million tons between 2011/12 and 2014/15 and the corresponding increment for South Asia is 2.60 million tons. The change percentage for the former is 13.84 % while for the later it is 57.01% indicating that the change is very rapid in the Asia Subcontinent (ASC) region. The change that is about 4 times higher is indicative of increasing demand and rapidly developing industries that need more soy meal as a consistent protein source in the region. This change has resulted in some dramatic changes in the South Asian region and in India.
Consumption of soy meal in South Asia region is therefore continually on the rise and there has been an incremental use of 2.6 MMT in the last four years. However USDA predicts that there will be further increase in meal consumption between 2014/15 and 2015/16 indicating usage of 1.53 MMT. It is stated that the consumption demand in South Asia will be 8.69 MMT in 2015/16. Because India’s production of soy meal is expected at 5.16 MMT in 2015/16, there is a supply demand gap that is clearly evident. To produce 8.69 MMT of meal within the South Asia region about 10.60 MMT of soybeans have to be crushed for animal feed purpose alone. So the total beans that would need to be produced will be 13-14 MMT to keep soybeans for sowing, direct bean usage and human food applications in the form of soy flour and texturized soy protein.
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