The U.S. Department of Agriculture is estimating world soybean production in the 2018/2019 market year will be 360.993 million metric tons. Three countries, United States, Brazil and Argentina, are projected to produce 82% of the world’s soybeans. The United States soybean production estimate is 123.66 million metric tons, or 4,535 billion bushels.
Table 1. World Soybean Production (2017/2018)
The next chart second chart shows the total world production versus use level. As one can see the world growth of soybeans has been impressive; growth has increased by about 350% since 1987. The commercial growth of livestock and poultry is probably closely correlated with this growth. Soybeans are supplying the world a needed source of protein and oil required for growth.
World soybean meal use is much different; domestic soybean meal consumption by China, United States and the European Union accounts for about 56% of the total soybean meal use and the balance is used by numerous countries with livestock and poultry operations. Table 2 shows how important soybean meal is to the World’s consumption of meat, milk and eggs.
