More than three-quarters (77%) of global soy is fed to livestock for meat and dairy production. Most of the rest is used for biofuels, industry or vegetable oils.
Where does the us get its soy from?
For example, the US imports about $100 million dollars in soy sauce every year. China supplies 42%. But it also gets a lot of soy sauce from Japan (17%), Hong Kong (14%) and Thailand (7%).
In the map we see the distribution of soybean production across the world. Most of the world’s soy comes from only two countries: the US and Brazil.
This of course begs the query “Do we really eat all of that soy?”
But we eat hardly any of that, at least not directly: The vast majority of domestic soybeans are processed into oil and soy protein. A whopping 98 percent of domestic soybean production goes to animal feed, with the remainder largely focused on soy oil, which is used sometimes in edible oils (like margarine) and sometimes in industry.
In the UK, where a high proportion of feed for dairy cows comes from grass, approximately 60 litres of milk is produced for each kilo of soy meal fed to dairy cows. In the EU as a whole, approximately 30 litres of milk are produced for every kilo of soy meal fed.
Where does the feed for livestock come from?
However, the feed, especially soy, consumed by the livestock often comes from South America, where the Cerrado biome and Gran Chaco ecosystems are rapidly being deforested by soy producers.
Where are soybeans grown?
Soybeans are grown as a food crop in Eastern Asia and are produced in Western agriculture as a source of both oil and protein. Although the United States and Brazil are the main producers of soybeans, China leads the soybean oil production worldwide., and br>.
How much soybeans does China import from the US each year?
In that year, China imported nearly 22.58 million metric tons of soybeans from the United States. Soybeans are naturally high in protein and hence a popular ingredient in vegetarian and vegan cuisine.
Although the United States and Brazil are the main producers of soybeans, China leads the soybean oil production worldwide. Annual soybean production in the United States has increased to over 4 billion bushels in the past few years.