The European Union is likely to sharply cut soyabean imports in coming months partly because of tough EU rules stopping imports of unapproved genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday. "The US is going to harvest a record soyabean crop this autumn but the EU's zero-tolerance policy regarding unapproved genetically-modified varieties is blocking imports of US soyabeans," it said.
The EU's ban on any residues of non-approved GMOs such as maize is disrupting soyabean imports as whole shiploads run the risk of being turned back if traces of non-approved types are found. EU September 2009/August 2010 soyabean imports are likely to fall to 12.8 million tonnes from 14.2 million tonnes in the same year-ago period, it said. Soyabean crushers in the EU will face great difficulties in satisfying their requirements and their capacity utilisation could decline significantly, it said.
South America will not be an immediate alternative as soyabean stocks in Argentina and Brazil were estimated to be 15 million tonnes below 2008 levels at the end of August this year following poor harvests, it said. EU oilseed crushers were likely to sharply increase rapeseed and sunflower seed crushing because of the soyabean problems, it said.