plate 301 · 2024/25 data

Argentina went from buying no soybeans to top three

Soybean imports, million tonnes a year, USDA marketing years 2022/23–2024/25 vs 2010/11–2012/13 (ticks), 66 countries; EU not ranked.

Who feeds the world
  1. 1. Brazil has all but caught the US in farm exports
  2. 2. Brazil exports more chicken than the US and EU combined
  3. 3. India now ships over a third of world rice exports
  4. 4. Russia now exports twice as much wheat as the US
  5. 5. Egypt exports more fresh oranges than any other country
  6. 6. China buys three in ten of the world's beef imports
  7. 7. Farmed seafood now outweighs the wild catch
  8. 8. Spanish olive oil mill prices are back at 2021 levels
  9. 9. Ukraine sells a fifth less grain than before the war
  10. 10. Brazil overtook the US as the world's top cotton exporter
  11. 11. Laos now mines more potash than Israel or Jordan
  12. 12. India now grows more rice than China
  13. 13. Côte d'Ivoire grows more cashews than India
  14. 14. Indonesia set to use more palm oil than it exports
  15. 15. Mato Grosso grows more soy than China and India combined
  16. 16. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia
  17. 17. Vietnam now drinks more coffee than Russia
  18. 18. Nigeria now eats more rice than Japan
  19. 19. Ecuador is now the world's second-biggest cocoa bean exporter
  20. 20. Mexico, home of maize, imports more of it than anyone
  21. 21. Cuba now imports more raw sugar than it exports
  22. 22. Japan's fish catch fell to a quarter of its peak
  23. 23. Chicken gives Egyptians twice the calories beef does
  24. 24. Brazil overtook the US as the world's top beef producer
  25. 25. Sub-Saharan Africa doubled its grain, mostly by farming more land
  26. 26. Pakistan now imports about as much cotton as it grows
  27. 27. Malaysia's world palm oil share fell from 37% to 25%
  28. 28. Indonesia now uses a sixth less rice per person
  29. 29. 12 countries switched to farming more fish than they catch
  30. 30. India rose from seventh to third among wild-fish catchers
  31. 31. Argentina went from buying no soybeans to top three
  32. 32. China's share of world cotton imports halved, to a fifth
7.7 Mt

Soybeans Argentina bought a year in 2022/23–2024/25, up from almost none (5,000 tonnes) in 2010/11–2012/13.

#2

Argentina's place among 66 importing countries in 2022/23–2024/25, behind only China (108.2 Mt). It has been in the top four every year since 2017/18.

4.8%

Argentina's share of soybean imports by single countries (EU excluded), from 0.0%: a top soy grower now also buys beans abroad.

Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Production, Supply and Distribution (PSD): Oilseed, Soybean, 2024/25
the numbers & method
Argentina went from buying no soybeans to top three. Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Production, Supply and Distribution (PSD): Oilseed, Soybean, 2024/25.
Soybean imports (Mt)2010/11–2012/13 (Mt)
Argentina7.70.0
Mexico6.53.5
Thailand3.62.0
Turkey3.41.2
Egypt3.31.7
Japan3.22.8
Iran2.70.4
Taiwan2.62.3

Claim types Fact

USDA FAS PSD, Oilseed, Soybean, imports (1,000 tonnes), editions data as of 2025-01 (2010/11–2018/19) and 2026-10 (2019/20 on), US government work, read from USDA PSD via the progrss vault (loaded from apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline). USDA local marketing years; three-year averages, ranks and shares, progrss calculation. Ranks among the single countries with soybean import figures (60 in 2010/11–2012/13, 66 in 2022/23–2024/25); USDA reports the 27 EU members as one unit, which is not in this extract and not ranked. Argentina imports, thousand tonnes: 2010/11 13, 2011/12 0, 2012/13 2; 2015/16 676, 2016/17 1,674, 2017/18 4,703 (3rd), 2018/19 6,408 (2nd), 2019/20 4,882 (3rd), 2020/21 4,816 (3rd), 2021/22 3,839 (4th), 2022/23 9,059 (2nd, a drought year at home), 2023/24 7,787 (2nd), 2024/25 6,324 (3rd, Mexico 6,434); 2025/26 USDA estimate 7,500 (2nd), 2026/27 forecast 6,500. Chart rows, 2022/23–2024/25 average (2010/11–2012/13 in grey), million tonnes: Argentina 7.72 (0.005), Mexico 6.45 (3.50), Thailand 3.62 (1.97), Turkey 3.44 (1.22), Egypt 3.29 (1.68), Japan 3.22 (2.84), Iran 2.68 (0.41), Taiwan 2.64 (2.34); China 108.17 (57.15), not drawn so the others stay readable. World imports (sum of countries in the extract): 81.5 Mt a year in 2010/11–2012/13, 161.6 Mt in 2022/23–2024/25. USDA's tables do not say where Argentina's imports come from; this plate makes no claim about origin or use. Live re-read of the USDA PSD page was not possible in this run; vault rule GUIDELINES §4.11 applies. In the latest final year, 2024/25, Argentina was third (6,324 vs Mexico 6,434); hence 'top three' in the title.

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