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THE
GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY
OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
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In 1942 a Feed Committee was appointed to specifically investigate matters regard-
ing animal feed and its improvement. That committee, together with the Department
of Agriculture, the Oil Expressers Association and the Animal Feed Manufacturers
Association (AFMA), probably played the most important role after that to stimulate
the production of soybeans in South Africa.
Production
South Africa is traditionally an importer of soybeans.
During the 1940s approximately 75% of South Africa’s need for oil and protein
seeds, which included soybeans, was imported from Europe and the USA, as the
local production could not satisfy the demand. Concern about the availability of
cargo space to import oilseeds apparently motivated the Oil Expressers Associa-
tion to finance the establishment of the Animal Feed Manufacturers Association
(AFMA) with the aim of facilitating the import and distribution of animal feed with
a high protein content in South Africa.
Research into the production of soybeans that was done in Potchefstroom led to
the introduction in 1950 of the first soybean cultivar that was cultivated specifically
for South African conditions. The cultivar was known as Geduld.
Despite ongoing efforts and research to increase the production of soybeans in
South Africa, it was only in the late 1990s that a fair momentum was achieved, but
even after 2010 soybeans still made up only a small though important and growing
component of the South African grain economy.
Increasing proceeds, supported by a favourable agricultural policy environment
that supported commercialisation and the use of agricultural technology, as well
as its utilisation as crop-rotation crop for maize, made it possible for commercial
producers to easily convert from the production of traditional grains to soybeans.
Graph 29 shows the changes in the extent of the production of oilseeds in South
Africa from 1970/1971. The growth in the production of soybeans relative to the
other oilseeds crops is clearly seen.
Imports
Local production provides only in a relatively small part of the South African demand
for soybeans, as is seen in the table about production and consumption numbers. A
large part of the domestic demand for soybeans is therefore still imported.
Soy meal is mainly imported from Argentina, while soybean oil is mainly imported
from Argentina and Brazil.
Soybean seed is imported from various countries, including the USA, New Zealand,
Japan, Australia and a number of European countries. However, South Africa also
COMPENSATE ON OIL CONTENT, ASKS PRODUCERS
During the NOPO Congress in February 1997 the request was made that
producers be compensated according to the oil content of sunflower seeds.
The reaction of the processors was that they would be willing to compen-
sate producers in this way, provided that sunflower seeds could be pro-
vided to them on the basis of the oil content. However, talks with the silo
industry revealed that it would not be logistically possible to store sunflow-
er seeds in silos according to the different oil-content levels and the request
could not be accommodated on a large scale.
However, one of the large agribusinesses in South Africa, Senwes, de-
cided to buy sunflower on the basis of oil content during the 1998 season.
The producer price would be calculated on an oil content of 42%, with
a sliding scale that became effective when the oil content was higher or
lower than 42%.