Soya imports from Brazil up despite price hike

Measured in euros, soya imports from Brazil in 2021 are the largest ever recorded. This is related to the high price combined with a large import volume. The value stood at 1.1 billion euros, surpassing the 1 billion mark for the first time. The price of soya rose for various reasons, including dry weather in Brazil and increased demand from China.

Over 3/4 processed in the Netherlands

Brazil largest soya supplier

Brazil and the United States have always been the largest suppliers of soybeans to the Netherlands, in alternating position. Brazil has been the main supplier again since 2019. In 2021, Brazil supplied 58 percent of all Dutch soybean imports. This was still 52 percent in 2020. The share held by the US declined from 35 to 30 percent over the same period.
Total Dutch soybean imports decreased by 8 percent from 4.5 billion to 4.2 billion kg in 2021. Conversely, the import value increased by 22 percent, from 1.5 billion to 1.9 billion euros.

Three quarters of Brazilian soya exports go to China

The Netherlands is the largest importer of soya in the EU, followed by Spain. Both the Netherlands and Spain imported about the same volume from Brazil in 2021. In percentage terms, Spain is more oriented towards Brazil compared to the Netherlands; it imports less soya from the United States. Germany imports the soya mainly from the Netherlands; relatively little is imported directed from Brazil.
However, all EU imports of soya combined pale in comparison to China’s soya imports. In 2020, China accounted for 65 percent of total soya imports around the world and even 76 percent of all soya exported by Brazil. Chinese soya imports from Brazil that year stood at over 64 billion kilograms, i.e. 27 times the weight imported by the Netherlands.
In 2020, the Netherlands was the third largest soybean importer worldwide after China and Argentina. It was also the third largest importer of soybeans from Brazil (after China and Thailand).