Soybean consumption to rise in Bangladesh: USDA

Bangladesh's soybean consumption is likely to rise owing to the recovery from the economic slowdown in the fourth quarter of the calendar year, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasted last week.

The agency forecasted that Bangladesh would buy 24 lakh tonnes of soybean for crushing in local mills in the 2023-24 marketing year, up 50 per cent from its previous estimate for the marketing year beginning in July.

Last year's imports were 41 per cent below the USDAs' official estimate of 27 lakh tonnes.

Higher prices and the foreign exchange crisis affected consumption and imports.

"Since the middle of 2022, Bangladesh has been facing a severe dollar shortage that disrupted imports. Appreciation of the US dollar against Bangladeshi taka also increased import costs," said the agency in its Oilseeds and Products Annual released on Thursday.

The USDA, in its report on Bangladesh, said the government stopped all non-essential imports and reduced the supply of dollars to commercial banks.

Therefore, soybean imports fell significantly in 2022-23 marketing year, it said adding that total whole soybean crushing fell 28 per cent to 20 lakh tonnes from the USDA official estimate, due to lower soybean imports and reduced demand for soybean meal in the feed industry.

"Contacts noted that major soybean crushers in Bangladesh slowed their crushing from October to December 2022 due to low supply. Soybean imports also dropped to zero during that period on high international prices and country's foreign exchange crisis," it added.