Soy and biodiesel associations tell House committee they’re not worried about soy oil supplies

In Washington, the House Agriculture Committee hearing on The Immediate Challenges to Our Nation’s Food Supply Chain convened Nov. 3 where producers, processors, and users of soy expressed their concerns over recent issues ranging from labor shortages to shipping woes. They’re also expressing what they’re not concerned about: soy oil supplies.

Food industry groups have waged claims that there’s a crunch on the supply of soy oil available when soy is crushed—and that foodservice cannot get enough edible oil for cooking because, those groups say, oil is being diverted to biodiesel and a burgeoning renewable diesel market.

American Soybean Association CEO Stephen Censky, in a recent editorial, was clear: There is no cause for alarm; 86 million acres of soy are currently being harvested—and a projected record 4.4 billion bushels. Likewise, processors are gearing up to process more soy and assure adequate soy oil is available for food, feed and fuel: At least seven new oilseed processing plants are under development, and soybean oil production by the domestic processing industry is projected by USDA to reach a record level this year—on top of a 26% growth in supply over the last 10 years. In short, Censky said, the markets are responding to the new demands.

The National Biodiesel Board agrees, stating that new demand is sending the right market signals to both soybean farmers and soybean crushers, leading to increased value for farmers, processors and rural economies, which in turn leads to more protein for livestock production and oil for food manufacturers.

Both NBB and ASA also have concerns that pinning inflationary pressures impacting the food and agriculture sector across all cost categories on renewable fuels expansion could affect support of the Renewable Fuel Standard.