Soybean production in India is set to climb by about 20% to over 10 million tonnes in the 2018-2019 crop year that starts in October, an industry official claimed. Higher production in the world’s top importer of edible oils could restrain its appetite for cargoes from overseas, potentially dragging on global soybean costs.
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We are exploring fertile and lands with adequate rain so far in major soybean growing areas like Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra,” said B.V. Mehta, from the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India.
“The initial estimate for 2018-19 is 10-plus million metric tonnes,” he said on the sidelines of an industry event in Kuala Lumpur. Mehta added that India would likely churn out 8.3 million tonnes of soybeans in the 2017/2018 crop year.
The amount of land in India planted with soybeans for the 2018-2019 crop year had risen to 11.1 million hectares as of Aug. 10, according to government data, up from 10.2 million hectares at the same time the previous year. However, monsoon rains are likely to be below average in 2018, after some parts of the country experienced tepid rainfall during the first half of the season.
