Soybean Meal: World Supply and Demand - Soy Meal Info Center (2024)

FAQs

How much soybean meal is consumed in the world? ›

According to the USDA-FAS PSD database, reported world consumption of soybean meal was 243.67 million metric tons (mmt) in the 2022/23 marketing year.

Major Players

Argentina is the largest exporter of soybean meal, and the EU is the largest importer of soybean meal. China is the largest consumer of soybean meal but is notably absent from the top importer list.

Soybean meal is the most commonly used protein supplement and is the standard used for determining the nutritive value of other protein supplements. The most common forms of SBM are solvent extracted (44% CP, as-fed basis) and dehulled, solvent extracted (48% CP, as-fed basis).

Food use of U.S. SBO in China is the largest consumer of U.S. SBO followed by U.S. food use and use for U.S. biofuel production.

Top importers of Soya beans, whether or not broken in 2022

The world's largest importers of this commodity group in 2022: China - 65% of the world imports ($61 billion) Mexico - 2.77% ($2.61 billion) Japan - 2.74% ($2.57 billion)

The 2024/25 U.S. season-average farm price for soybeans is forecast at $11.20 per bushel compared with $12.55 per bushel in MY 2023/24. Soybean meal and soybean oil prices are forecast to decline to $330.00 per short ton and $0.42 per pound, respectively.

China consumes the most soybean meal, followed by the United States, the European Union, Brazil and several other countries with livestock and poultry operations. Nearly 65% of the world's soybean meal is consumed by China, United States, the European Union and Brazil.

Who are the top 2 importers of soybeans? ›

Markets of Major Importers

China is by far the largest importer of soybeans in the world. It sourced 63% of its soybean imports from Brazil from 2018-2022. The US was the second largest supplier with almost 30%.

Peanut Meal

This ingredient has become increasingly available during the past few years. Peanut meal has about the same protein as soybean meal (47-48%). However, this protein is not of the same quality as that in soy. Specifically, the critical amino acid lysine is very deficient in peanut meal.

However, some worry about soy's potential downsides, including its GMO content, possible estrogen-like effects, and long-term influence on growth, digestion, sexual maturation, thyroid health, and breast cancer risk. Currently, few of these concerns are backed by strong science. However, more research is needed.

The high-shear dry extrusion process by which ExPress® soymeal is made promotes product stability through the preservation of naturally-occurring tocopherols and promotes a prolonged shelf-life of at least 12 months for extruded soy ingredients.

The global soybean meal market size was valued at $59.2 billion in 2021, and is projected to reach $94.2 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 4.9% from 2022 to 2031. Soybean meal is a great animal feed because it is highly digested, tasty, and contains a lot of digestible energy.

Globally, about 2 percent of soybean meal is used for soy flour and other products for human consumption. Soy flour is used to make some soy milks and textured vegetable protein products, and is marketed as full-fat, low-fat, defatted, and lecithinated types.

This has even led to claims that the vegan lifestyle is greatly harming the environment. However, only about 20% of soy is used in products for humans, with less than half of these for vegetarian and vegan products. The vast majority – nearly 80% - of soy is grown to feed animals.

About 70% of the soybean's value comes from the meal, and 97% of U.S. soybean meal goes to feed livestock and poultry.