Soybeans

A leguminous plant, known commonly as the soybean or soy pea, which serves as a source of protein.

More than 2,500 types of soybeans are used to produce products including soy sauce, tofu, vegetable oil, soybean meal, and miso. Besides being processed into vegetable oil, soybeans are also used as feed for livestock and for fertilizer. Soybeans are also used to manufacture glycerin, paints, soaps, plastics, and ink, and are used in rubber substitutes.

The soybean was first cultivated in China 5,000 years ago. The Chinese used the soybean as a major source of protein in their diet along with fish. The Chinese did not export large quantities of the crop but used it for domestic consumption instead.

In the period after World War II, soybeans became an important commodity worldwide. The United States emerged as the leading producer of soybeans, growing up to 70 percent of the annual yield worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s. Soybeans grown in the United States were placed in crushers, and the oils extracted were used in vegetable oil. Soybeans became the second-largest crop in the country behind corn. In 2001, U.S. soybean oil exports totaled $8.8 billion, a significant amount that helped contribute to an agricultural trade surplus. The combined value of domestic consumption and foreign sales of soybean products totaled $15.2 billion in 2003. Countries importing U.S. soybean products include members of the European Union, Japan, Mexico, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

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An important source of plant-based protein, soybeans have been a major U.S. export crop for decades. Shown here are U.S. farmers harvesting soybean seeds in 1940. (Library of Congress)

Since the 1970s, the United States has continued to increase its production of soybeans, while the U.S. share of the world export market has declined to approximately 50 percent. Chief rivals for the soybean market are Brazil and Argentina, countries that have cleared large tracts of forest for cultivation during the past few decades. The two countries combined control 30 percent of the world soybean market. China has become the world’s fourth-largest producer. Recent changes within China, especially with a shift toward participating in the world market and a correlating increase in wages and food consumption, has forced it to import soybean products since domestic need exceeds domestic production.

Historically, tariff rates on soybeans have re mained low in comparison to those of grain crops. Lower rates have stimulated trade in soybeans between the United States and the European Union. The signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement has also resulted in more U.S. soybean products being shipped into Mexico since the duties rates were lowered during the late 1990s and then eliminated in 2003. The trend worldwide is that as nations increase their food consumption, a corresponding increase in soybean imports occurs, except in the United States, where production continues to exceed domestic consumption.

Cynthia Clark Northrup

See also: South America; United States.

Bibliography

Ash, Mark, and Eric Dohlman. “Soybeans and Oil Crops: Trade.” (www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/soybeansoilcrops/, accessed January 2004).

Houck, James P., Mary E. Ryan, and Abraham Subotnik. Soybeans and Their Products: Markets, Models, and Policy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1972.

Lager, Mildred M. The Useful Soybean. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1945.