Browse Data and Analysis

FAS/Pretoria’s Oilseeds and Products annual report provides information on the production, supply, and distribution for soybean, sunflowerseed, and rapeseed in South Africa for marketing year (MY) 2023/24, MY 2024/25, and MY 2025/26.

Soybeans from the United States are once again eligible to enter South Africa. After a mid-summer drought that caused a 35 percent drop in production, South Africa needs to import soybeans to supplement domestic production and maintain crushing demand.

South Africa has experienced an upsurge in oilseed plantings over the past 20 years with a near nine-fold expansion in soybean area. Post foresees that the positive trend in soybean plantings will continue in marketing year 2023/24 with area and oilseed production reaching historically high level of 1.8 million hectares and 3.6 million metric tons, respectively.

South Africa experienced an upward trend in oilseed production (soybeans and sunflower seeds) driven largely by rising oilseed prices, higher yielding cultivars, and a local demand-pull from investments in new oilseed processing plants.

Fishmeal exports reached a surprising 1.2 million metric tons (MMT) in MY 2021, the highest amount in ten years. However, production and exports are forecast to return to more normal levels at 910,000 and 896,000 metric tons, respectively.

Post predicts that South Africa’s positive trend in soybean plantings will continue in the 2021/22 MY in line increased local crushing capacity.

Fishmeal production in MY 2021/2022 is forecast at 900,000 MT. Fishmeal exports in MY 2021/2022 are estimated at 894,000 MT, remaining at the same levels as the previous year.

South Africa is continuing to experiencing a positive trend in the area planted with summer rainfall field crops during the past two decades.

In the 2020/21 MY, Post forecasts that South Africa's oilseed meal imports will drop by 8 percent to 550,000 tons and oilseed oil imports will decline by 5 percent to less than 400,000 tons...

Peru's 10-year moratorium on genetically engineered (GE) crops and zero tolerance for GE events is scheduled to expire in 2021.

South Africa has a robust and experienced regulatory system for genetically engineered (GE) products which started with the publication of its “GMO” act in 1997.

Post forecasts that South Africa’s oilseed meal imports will drop by 25 percent to 495,000 tons in the 2019/20 MY, as a record of 1.3 million tons of oilseed meal will be produced locally.