Sílvio Ávila
Feeding the
economy
The production of soybean meal in Brazil
hit a historical record in 2015, giving continu-
ity to a record crop and record crushing. The
result of 30.765 million tons has outstripped
by 7%, or 2.013 million tons, the volume pro-
duced in 2014, according to data released by
the Brazilian Vegetable Oil Industries Associa-
tion (Abiove). They also surpassed the results
of theprevious year’s internal consumptionof
6.017million tons ofmeal, and the shipments
abroadof14.796milliontonsin2015.
Domesticdemandwasfavoredbythecon-
sumption of a huge amount of animal feed.
In the foreignmarket, Brazilian soybeanmeal
was a favoritewith the importers, partlymoti-
vated by the smaller sales in Argentina, main
global exporter of this byproduct. Abiove of-
ficials believe that one of the negative points
in the market is the increase of soybean ker-
nel exports, to the detriment of value-added
products, like high protein soybeanmeal. An-
other problem that affects the industry is the
accumulationoffiscalcredits.
Soybean meal shipments went up 8% in
2015, while soybean kernel exports were up
19%, reaching a total of 54.324 million tons.
Revenue frommeal exports totaled US$ 5.821
billion,lessthanUS$7.001billionrakedin2014.
Revenue from shipments of soybean kernels
reached US$ 20.984 billion, less than the US$
23.277 billion registered in 2014. According to
Abiovesources,profitssufferedareductiondue
to lower international prices, brought about by
therecordcropsintheUnitedStatesandBrazil.
Average price per ton, US$ 510 in 2014,
dropped to US$ 393 in the following year. In
Brazilian currency, average prices fetched by
foreign soybean meal sales, R$ 1,220.56 per
ton throughout 2015, was up 8.1% from the
average of R$ 1,129.47 per ton in the previous
year, according to data fromthe Secretariat of
Foreign Trade (Secex) of theMinistry of Devel-
opment,IndustryandForeignTrade(MDIC).
Brazilianproductionof30.765milliontonsof
soybeanmealwasarecordin2015, taking
advantageofdomesticsupplyanddemand
Importers
TheEuropeanUnionwasstillthemaindestinationforBraziliansoybeanmealin2015.Ac-
cording toAbiove sources, thepurchases of the regionwere inexcess of 8.3million tons, rep-
resenting56.3%of all the shipments throughout the year. Compared to2014, thismarket re-
duced its imports by 5%.
SouthKoreaandJapan,countriesinSouthandSoutheastAsia,imported5.2milliontons
of soybeanmeal in 2015, up 30% from the previous year. The volume shipped to the region
represented 35% of the total negotiated by Brazil, and has been on a speedy upward trend
since 2013, say Abiove officials. Theproductwas shippedabroadmainly through the follow-
ing ports: Paranaguá (36%), Santos (29%) andRioGrande (18%).
January through August 2016, soybeanmeal exports totaled 10.924million tons, bringing
in revenueof US$ 3.873billion, according to theAgrostat system, of theMinistryof Agriculture,
Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa). Abiove’s expectations point to exports of 15.2million tons
and US$ 5.32 billion in 2016. Should this confirm, shipments will outstrip last year’s amounts,
butwithsmallerrevenue.Soybeanmealproductionreachedatotalof14.338milliontons,Jan-
uary throughJuly2016,with the total estimatedat 30.9million tons for theentireyear.
66
PRODUTOPRINCIPAL
MainProduct
Oferta e demanda de farelode soja, emmil toneladas
Anos
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016*
Produção
28.322 27.767 27.621 28.752 30.765 30.900
Consumo doméstico 13.758 14.051 14.350 16.017 15.700
–
Exportação
14.355 14.289 13.334 13.716 14.796 15.200
Fonte/Elaboração:
Abiove – * Estimativa 2 setembro de 2016.
