Soya beans rank as some of the most versatile legumes to grow in Zambia as they have affinity to thrive in many parts of the country. Their main growing belts include a designated area of the capital Lusaka and the Central Province as well as the copper-producing region.
The latest insights on Zambia soya beans is that prices are projected to go down in coming months within the country. This will not go well with farmers who seek to tap the lucrative Asian market later in the year.
Furthermore, the country expects an increase in harvests and this may find the prices at a lower scale than they are now, especially since farmers have stocked up current unsold harvests.
Why Zambia soya bean prices are expected to go down
In a story published April 28 2023, Yotam Mkandawire of the Grain Traders Association of Zambia cited the low regional prices as a major factor causing the stagnation of prices of Zambia soya beans.
Coupled to this is the fact that not only Zambia is experiencing the low asking prices but the rest of the export market. The only saving grace, Mkandawire avers, is the ‘opening’ of the Chinese and Indian markets, currently also plagued by weak prices.
There are also expectations that with farmers currently piling up unsold stocks, there will be a supply overload even as the country expects a bumper crop harvest later in the year.
Around the world, prices of soya beans are at a downward trend, with those in the United States losing by over 14 price points between March and end of April, 2023. By April 30, the dip had changed by -14.69 percent from the foregoing month. This points to the ripple effects of worldwide trends on the prices of Zambia soya beans.
Current price and market trends
Meanwhile, a local farmers guild has rallied the state to provide fair prices for the upcoming Zambia soya beans season as the mid-year nears. The Smallholder Farmers Association of Zambia pointed out that the government needs to be lenient on farmers by raising the wholesale prices amid a gradual lessening of the commodity’s price in recent weeks. By the first week of March 2023, the price had gone down by 1.9% in comparison to February’s peak unit values of the legume. This was despite the deliberations that very month to the effect that the price would be raised rather than go down.
Currently, China and India are the biggest Asian importers of soy beans from Zambia. However, even as China tries to meet its soya needs for poultry feed and other uses through imports from countries in the tropics, it is also running a steep hill price projection, with the last price in the third week of April lessening to $517.08 per tonne. This was 8.6 percent lower than the unit value of the foregoing month. Meanwhile, another competitor, Brazil has had a bumper harvest and is lowering the chances of Zambia’s soya beans finding their way to the Orient, with good prices, in the near future.
Processing of soya beans in Zambia set to improve
The entry of a soya bean processor to Zambia is set to improve production levels. This could also raise the production capacity to 90,000 MT annually. Unified Chemicals announced in the third week of April, 2023, that it was establishing a soybean content extraction facility in the Kapiri Mposhi area with a factory size of 11000 meters square.
This comes at a time when Kolomo Grain Marketing Limited (KGML) had already been planning to expand its activity from mere grain processing to the extraction of oil. Essential oils from soybean are popular in such Zambia soya bean markets as the neighboring Congo DRC and the United States. KGML also seeks to make inroads for the soya bean cake within the South African country.
Related: Price insights for soya bean oil in Zambia
Soybean production in Zambia
Zambia cultivates soya beans at the subsistence and large-scale levels, and as such, the crop passes the test as one of the most prized protein legumes and poultry feed sources in the nation. There are several varieties that are currently available in the country, ranging from high-yield to low-yield cultivars. The government labels Lukanga, Kafue and Dina as high yield varieties that can bring 4 tons per hectare.
Others with at least two tons per hectare productivity include Kaleya and Magoye. These yield capacities are optimal and do not reflect the reality on the ground, where land depreciates over continuous propagation and thus the corresponding lower production per hectare.
Even as current prices dip and future projections show a bleak market price, Zambia soya beans are still on track. With companies in the export sector moving into the oil processing niche, it means that the legume is also growing in value in related areas of production. The country expects huge harvests later this year, and the ‘big crop,’ may go into the processing industry.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) registers an average 1.3 tons per hectare worth of production levels for the 2022-23 period. This is a reduction by a single point of the 2021 value that stood at 1.4 tons per hectare.