SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korea’s soybean production is expected to slip in the 2020-21 marketing year, according to a report from the Global Agricultural Information Network of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

A 23% decrease is expected in South Korea’s 2020-21 marketing year production with the USDA citing a decrease in planted area and lower yields to totaling 80,926 tonnes.

The USDA anticipates South Korea’s soybean consumption for the 2020-21 marketing year to fall to 1.39 million tonnes due to increasing commodity prices. Approximately one million tonnes are expected to be used for crushing 340,000 tonnes for domestic food products and 50,000 tonnes in domestic animal feed and seed.

Imports of soybeans for crush in the first three months of the 2020-21 marketing year jumped 22% to 273,131 tonnes. The USDA expects this trend to continue in the 2020-21 marketing year to meet demand for locally processed soybean meal used for feed.