South Korea: Oilseeds and Products Annual
Due to a government program incentivizing a decrease in rice production, FAS Seoul projects that soybean production for Marketing Year (MY) 2018/19 will increase by approximately 20 percent from the previous year, to around 100,000 metric tons (MT). Consumption is forecast to remain unchanged from the previous year, at 1.37 million MT (MMT). Imports are also projected to remain unchanged, staying at 1.27 MMT. MY 2018/19 soybean meal production and consumption are forecast to remain unchanged from 792,000 MT and 2.72 MMT respectively. MY 2018/19 rapeseed meal production and consumption are also forecast to remain relatively constant at 3,000 MT and 260,000MT respectively. Soybean oil production is also projected to remain unchanged, at 190,000 MT, and of a total 310,000 MT in imports, about 160,000 MT will be bought from the United States. Soybean oil consumption is forecast to remain steady at 490,000 MT. Palm oil imports will continue increasing to meet the demand of biodiesel as Korea increased the blend mandate to three percent from the previous biodiesel blend requirement of 2.5 percent beginning this year.
