Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay will produce just over 217 million tons of soybeans in the 2023/24 harvest. Together, the countries will add 22.55 million tons (11.6%) to global production, increasing the South American bloc’s dominance in the world’s grain supply.
In its latest report, the USDA increased the estimate for production in Argentina by 2 million tons. The expectation is that producers in the neighbouring country will harvest 50 million tons and capture a 13% share of the global supply.
Although smaller, Paraguay will make its contribution to South America. The USDA added 300 thousand tons to its estimate, which now stands at 10.3 million tons in the 2023/24 harvest. In the previous cycle, Paraguayan production was 9.75 million tons.
Argentina and Paraguay are occupying the space opened by Brazil in the global supply. Even though it easily leads world production, the country will reduce its weight due to the climate problems generated by El Niño in the 2023/24 cycle.
The graph on the left showed that world production was led by Brazil (42.6%) and the United States (31.0%), Paraguay (2.6%), Argentina (6.7%) and other countries (17.2%).
The graph on the right reveals a drop in production in 2023/2024 in the United States and Brazil, however the increase in production in Argentina made it possible for South America to obtain the largest production in the world, thus, Brazil with a production of (39, 4%), United States (28.4%), Paraguay (2.6%), Argentina (12.5%), other countries (17.1%). In this context, South America will be responsible for 65% of international soybean trade, increasing its dominance by three percentage points compared to the last harvest.