Russia's soybean imports from South America fall to historical low in 2025-2026 agricultural year

MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) - Russia's imports of soybeans from South American countries have fallen to a historical minimum amid a sharp increase in domestic soybean production since the beginning of the 2025-2026 agricultural year (which started on September 1, 2025), and this has made it possible to significant reduce dependence on external supplies to load processing enterprises, the Agroexport federal center said.

According to the center's calculations, soybean imports fell 63% year-on-year to 150,000 tonnes in September-November 2025, primarily due to the absence of purchases from Brazil. This is the lowest amount for these months in the entire period of observations.

"The record harvest this year has seriously impacted the supply and demand balances of Russia's soybean sector. The level of the oilseed harvest exceeded all expectations, and the estimate of domestic production is around 9.4 million to 9.5 million tonnes in standard weight, which creates additional export potential for finished products and supplies Russian oilseed processing plants with raw materials, considering some local surpluses," analysts from Agroexport said.

According to operational data, over the last four months (July-October), rail shipments of soybeans to Kaliningrad, where large processing capacities are concentrated, from other regions of Russia have increased 3.5-fold. This trend may continue further, given that the pace of field work in the second half of autumn was higher than in the first.

According to Rosstat data, the soybean harvest in Russia amounted to 7.1 million tonnes in 2024.