COFCO International Argentina loaded 18,000 metric tons of certified Argentine deforestation-free soy meal at its Timbúes port terminal on the Parana River near Rosario, the first fully traceable and segregated shipment of deforestation-free soy products for COFCO International aligned with the EU Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR).

The beans and processed meal are assured to be free from recent deforestation and have been segregated since harvesting to ensure no blending with non-certified produce.

Thanks to early industry and government investments in Argentina’s Visec monitoring platform which was developed to reduce the cost of traceability and serve the country’s entire soy chain, the country is now well-placed to supply Europe with EUDR-compliant soybeans, meal and related products. Visec is expected to cover all soy supply coming out of Argentina by the end of 2024, including intermediaries such as cooperatives, making it the first country to show it is ready to fully comply with the EUDR.

This shipment follows other sustainable soy shipments that have utilized the mass-balance model where the certified products and non-certified products are mixed together somewhere in transit or production of the end product. The segregated model applied to this shipment requires the certified produce to be physically separated from non-certified produce throughout the whole supply chain.

The EUDR entered into force in 2023 and will start to apply on December 30, 2024. The regulation is aimed at promoting the consumption of deforestation-free products within the EU and therefore bring down greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. Under the EUDR, any operator or trader who places commodities including soy, palm oil, coffee, cattle, cocoa, wood and rubber or derived products on the EU market, or exports from it, must be able to prove that the products do not originate from land deforested since 2020 or have contributed to forest degradation.

This deforestation-free soymeal shipment, along with previous shipments of deforestation-free soybeans to China, are important steps to COFCO International meeting its commitments to achieve deforestation and conversion-free soy supply chains in upcoming years and reduce emissions from land use change.