High corn prices put pressure on soybean meal consumption in Indonesia

Consumption of soybean meal in Indonesia declined to 5.15 mln tonnes in 2023/24 as feed mills cut production due to higher corn prices. Decreased feed production and weakened consumer purchasing power led to forced culling of poultry in the first half of 2023/24, so feed demand fell in line with supply, according to the Grain and Feed Report prepared by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service in Jakarta.

Nevertheless, USDA expects soybean meal consumption to recover by 2% to 5.2 mln tons in 2024/25. Higher rates of recovery are likely in the second half of 2024/25, provided the successful rollout of the government’s free food program, which is expected to increase demand for animal protein and, consequently, for feed.

USDA also reported that soybean meal imports decreased to 5.1 mln tonnes in 2023/24 and slightly increased in 2024/25 to 5.2 mln tonnes, with Brazil being the main supplier, followed by Argentina and the US.

Tags: corn, Indonesia, soybean meal