HANOI, VIETNAM — As Vietnam’s hog and sow herds recover from African swine fever, total soybean crush and soybean meal for feed use is forecast to increase in 2021-22, according to a report from the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Crush is expected to reach 1.5 million tonnes while soybean meal for feed use is estimated at 6.1 million tonnes.

Soybean meal is the largest share of oilseed meal used for aqua and animal feed. Total feed demand in Vietnam is expected to increase to 27.8 million tonnes in 2020-21 and 28.4 million tonnes in 2021-22.

Soybean imports are forecast up to 2.1 million tonnes in 2020-21 and 2.2 million tonnes in 2021-22 because of the increases in domestic feed demand and soy oil needs, the USDA said.

Soybean meal imports are expected to increase slightly to 5.2 million tonnes in 2021-22 with production from crushing plants offsetting a smaller increase in imports, the USDA said.

Food consumption is forecast to increase 4% in 2020-21 and 2021-22 with an expected recovery from COVID-19.