Europe is expecting a record year for soybean output, Donau Soja announced one month before this year's harvest begins. The European harvest is expected to reach a total of 11.5 million tonnes. This is an increase of more than 16% compared to 2022 when the total harvest was 9.9 million tonnes.
In EU countries alone, the area under soybean cultivation will reach about 1.1 million hectares. The total EU harvest will be close to 3 million tonnes this year, up 750,000 tonnes from last year. This is a one-third increase in the EU countries' harvest compared to 2022.
In total, the demand in the EU is about 30-35 million tonnes. That means that a third of this amount can now be produced in Europe instead of importing from overseas. Donau Soja presented these figures in the current Market Report this week.
“Now is the best time for the food industry to switch to European soy because the premiums are historically low compared to genetically modified overseas soy,” said Matthias Krön, president of Donau Soja. Austria expects a harvest increase of 15% this year, Germany 6%.
The strong increase in harvest volumes in the EU is mainly due to the better weather situation and more precipitation this year compared to widespread dry periods last year and the associated crop losses.
The forecast harvest in Ukraine is particularly promising this year because both the area of soy cultivation and the yields per hectare have grown due to the best conditions.
Overall, the area under cultivation grew by 20% to 1.8 million hectares despite the war. Donau Soja, therefore, expects a surplus of almost 680,000 tonnes this year. Italy, Romania and Hungary expect also massive harvest increases. For Austria, Donau Soja forecasts a harvest increase of about 15% and a record harvest of 280,000 tonnes.
The prices for European GMO-free soy are also moving in a positive direction. In the last three to four months, they fell to a historic low compared to genetically modified soy from the USA or South America.
