Soybean exports to the EU increased 54% in 2017/18

Ukraine in the current marketing year delivered 800 thou. tons of soybeans to the EU, which is 54% more than the delivered volume over the corresponding period last season, APK-Inform reports.

According to Julia Ivanitskaya, oilseed market analyst at APK-Inform Agency, this led to a significant increase in the EU share in the total volume of shipments (from 19 to 31%) and significant changes in the rating of importers. It should be noted that the main European importers were the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Poland, Germany, and Hungary.

"Generally, the countries of the TOP-10 remained the same, with the exception of the UAE, where no supplies were made, and Switzerland, which, although has a small share on the background of others, increased imports of soybeans 10 times, overtaking China," the analyst specified.

In September-May, Turkey boosted its purchases to 717 thou. tons. Exports to Belarus increased 2.3 times to 236 thou. tons. Lebanon's demand also increased significantly, where 3.2 times more Ukrainian soybean than a season earlier was shipped — 155 thou. tons.

Shipments to Iran declined 38%, Egypt — 48%, Israel — almost 4 times, Tunisia — 56%, and China — almost 8 times.

Reference: the EU market lacks 50-100k tons of organic soybean.