Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 24 ISSUE 3
Written by Agatha POPESCU

The study aimed to investigate the trends in soybean crop cultivated area, yields and production at the global level and in the EU (2015-2023) and Romania (2007-2023) using the data from USDA, European Commission, National Institute of Statistics. The processing was based on growth rate, trend line regressions, R square, food balance, self sufficiency rate (SSR), comparisons etc. Soybean is an important protein-based and energy crop, called to produce healthier foods and animal meals, to sustain renewable energy production, to reduce pollution by capturing Nitrogen, diminishing the amounts of fertilizers, protecting environment and conserving biodiversity. In 2023, at the global level, 139.74 Million ha were cultivated with soya, production reached 419.5 Million tons seeds, (+32% vs. 2015), and yield attained 2.82 tons/ha (+0.06 vs. 2022).This was due to high consumption of 406.1 Million (+27.3% vs. 2015). Brazil, USA, Argentina and Paraguay produce 91.7% of the global soy seed output. In 2023, the EU-27 cultivated 11.94 Million ha with oilseeds crops, of which: rape 52.2%, sunflower 39.2% and soybean 0.98 Million ha (8.2%). For the next year, the forecast is +0.1 Million ha for soybean, +0.21 Million ha for sunflower and a decline by -0.46 Million ha for rape. In 2023, the EU produced 32.55 Million tons oil seeds of which soybean (9.2%), sunflower (30.1%) and 60.7% rape. Soybean SSR was 17.59% vs. SSR 63.91% for rape + sunflower + soybean, 84.98% for rape+ sunflower. Italy, France, Romania, Croatia and Austria contributes by 83% to the EU output. Romania accounts for 14% in the EU soya market. In 2023, 141.7 thousand ha were cultivated with soya (+ 6.38% vs. 2007). Production reached 303.2 thousand (2.2 times higher vs. 2007). The top output was 465.6 thousand tons in 2018, and yield raised to 2,140 kg/ha (2.09 times vs. 2007). As a conclusion, soybean is called to have a greater role in human food, animal meals, energy production, environment protection and biodiversity preservation. This means an extend in cultivated area, higher yield and production globally. However, the EU will continue not to cultivate GM soybean, but to import for covering the market requirement.

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