Japan: Oilseeds and Products Annual

Japan’s vegetable oil and protein feed markets began to show signs of slowing in market year (MY) 2017/18, but low soybean prices and a drop in world rapeseed prices in 2018 helped Japan’s big 3 crushers to maintain production despite rising labor and transportation costs. A cold and rainy summer in Hokkaido reduced Japanese soybean production by 15.8 percent in 2018, increasing demand for food soybean imports in MY 2018/19. A slowdown in domestic pork production is expected to reduce imports of soybean meal. Japan is expected to increase imports of palm stearin oil to meet demand under Japan’s Feed-in Tariff (FIT) for energy generation. Palm kernel shell (PKS) imports for the FIT program, which have grown substantially since 2013, began to flatten in 2018 as Japanese traders look to wood pellet imports from North America.

Japan: Oilseeds and Products Annual