The Philippine’s soybean meal (SBM) imports for 2025-2026 marketing year are expected to rise on increased local feed demand, with the local copra meal not deemed a perfect substitute to SBM in making feeds, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), through its Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) in Manila, said in a report.
The USDA FAS Manila projects the country’s SBM imports for the current market year to increase by 3.1 percent to 3.35 million metric tons (MMt) from the previous market year’s 3.25 MMt.
Local SBM production is expected to remain at 22,000 MT for the two comparative periods as soybean supply in the country is dependent on imports, with local production only below 1,000 Mt, the report said. Crop production has difficulty maximizing its yield in a tropical climate as diseases set in more rapidly in high humidity areas, the report explained.
The SBM market year in the country starts every January. The commodity is a byproduct of the soybean oil extraction and primarily serves as a major protein source in the formulation of animal and aquaculture feeds.
The report dated April 8, 2025 but was released only on Thursday, April 10, said that such growth is driven by an increase in local feed demand from the broiler, layer, aquaculture and pet food industries.
“Population growth, increase in household incomes, and diversification of diet drive up the demand for protein sources such as chicken meat, eggs, and commercially farmed fish and shrimp, which will increase the demand for SBM,” the FAS Manila report said.
“Similarly, the forecast rebound in the swine industry due to the continuous swine repopulation and expansion programs of the government, along with the growth of the pet food industry, further increases the demand for SBM,” it added.
The FAS Manila said the bulk of SBM imports in the Philippines, or 83 percent, comes from the United States, followed by 15 percent from Argentina, 1 percent from Brazil, another 1 percent from China, and the remaining 0.2 percent from other nations.
Local copra meal production, on the other hand, is expected to grow by 1.8 percent to 865,000 Mt for the market year 2025 to 2026, from 850,000 Mt of the previous market year, because of an expected “marginal rebound in the coconut supply available” for crushing in the country, the report said.
Copra meal is a by-product derived from crushing copra into coconut oil and also serves as a raw ingredient for animal feeds.
The FAS Manila said that copra for crushing in the Philippines for market year 2025 to 2026 will increase by 1.9 percent to 2.65 MMt from the previous market year’s 2.6 MMt.
Despite the projected higher production, FAS Manila said that local consumption of copra meal for animal feeds for marketing year 2025 to 2026 will be flat at 530,000 Mt.
“Industry contacts explain that copra meal cannot be used as a complete substitute for SBM, as copra meal lacks the digestible amino acid and high fiber content. Industry contacts added that SBM has two times more crude protein compared to copra meal, allowing feed millers to attain the desired nutritional profile of the feed more efficiently using SBM,” the report explained.
FAS Manila’s report also said that since copra prices are in an upward trend, local feed manufacturers are choosing SBM over copra meal.
However, the higher local production of copra meal is expected to lead to a 1.5-percent increase in copra meal exports for market year 2025 to 2026 at 340,000 Mt, from the previous market year of 335,000 Mt.
The report said that the bulk of the country’s copra meal exports is historically shipped to South Korea. The Observatory of Economic Complexity said that in 2022, the Philippines exported copra worth $276,000 to South Korea, its biggest market outside of the Philippines. Besides South Korea, the Philippines also exported copra to Bahrain ($97,000), Germany ($23,000), and China ($21,000) in 2022. In 2023, Indonesia was the top exporter of copra, with 50 percent of the world exports ($33 million), followed by India with 38 percent ($25 million).
