Abstract

Soybeans (Glycine max) hold an increasingly important role within global agrifood systems, not only because of their multiple end-uses but also due to their substantial implications in land use dynamics, international trade, and environmental sustainability. Over the past three decades, soybean production has expanded at an unprecedented rate. Since 1991, global output has more than quadrupled, while the total harvested area has more than doubled (FAOSTAT). Also, yields showed a notable increase—reflecting technological change and improvements in agronomic practices—to match the rising global demand. Three intertwined drivers are responsible for this surge: the need for protein-rich animal feed to sustain rising meat and dairy consumption, the industrial use for biofuel production, and its widespread utilization for direct human consumption (both as primary or processed product). Examining in detail the spatial and temporal variations in soybean cultivation, with particular attention to the expansion of harvested area as an indicator of cultivated land, allows to identify which countries and regions have undergone the most significant transformations in terms of agricultural production choices and investment policies. Equally important is to assess how these transformations have influenced trade patterns, as the countries recalibrate their import and export strategies in response to supply, demand, and domestic policy frameworks. Global trade of soybeans, soybean oil, and soybean meal has grown not only in absolute volume but also in structural complexity, encompassing both the consumption needs and the influence of national and international policies.
Using FAOSTAT data from the production, trade, and food balance domains, this research examines both the supply and demand dimensions of the soybean sector and its economic interactions. On the supply side, it focuses on identifying producing countries with substantial stakes in biofuel production and animal feed applications of soybeans, as well as assessing the proportion of their harvests allocated to international markets. On the demand side, it evaluates which economies dominate global consumption and the extent of their dependence on soybean imports for domestic use. The expansion of soybean production and trade, however, is not without environmental costs. The continuous enlargement of areas devoted to soybean cultivation has been strongly linked by the international scientific community to deforestation, habitat fragmentation, and biodiversity loss. Consequently, the soybean sector has become a target in debates over sustainable agriculture, trade governance, and land use regulation, as stakeholders seek to reconcile growing global demand with the imperatives of ecological preservation and climate mitigation.
This study aims to contribute to the economic agriculture literature, tackling the issue of agricultural soya beans processes by analyzing the dynamics of soybean production, trade, and consumption within a global and regional perspective. Through the analysis of harvested area and production volume expansions associated with the economic forces driving demand and supply, the study seeks to investigate the soybean market framework.