Farmers ‌planted soyabeans on 12 million hectares in 2025, and industry officials ​expect the area to rise by up to 10% this year | Photo Credit: BL Net Mail

 India’s soyabean acreage ‌is expected to increase this year as four-year-high prices and forecasts of ​below-normal monsoon rainfall due to El Nino encourage farmers to ⁠shift from water-intensive crops such as sugarcane and corn to the oilseed, farmers and industry officials told Reuters.

Soyabean is India’s main summer-sown oilseed crop and higher output will ‌help the world’s biggest importer of edible oils to cap overseas buying of palm oil, soyaoil and sunflower oil. It will ‌also ease domestic soyabean and soyameal prices, benefitting India’s poultry industry, ‌the ⁠largest consumer of soyameal.

“Farmers switched from soyabean to corn last ⁠year. But with soyabean offering better returns than corn, many are expected to shift back to the oilseed this season,” said Manoj Agrawal, managing director of Maharashtra Oil Extractions, a ​soyameal producer and exporter.

Soyabean prices climbed ‌to ₹7,587 per 100 kg last month, a four-year high and well above the government’s support price of ₹5,328, while corn prices remain below the floor price of ₹2,400 for the year.

Farmers ‌planted soyabeans on 12 million hectares in 2025, and industry officials ​expect the area to rise by up to 10 per cent this year.

The farmers usually begin planting soyabeans and other summer-sown crops ⁠in June with the arrival of monsoon rains, which are expected this year to be the weakest in 11 years due to the emergence of the ‌El Nino weather pattern.

Concerns over rainfall have increased the appeal of soyabeans, which require less water than corn and sugarcane, crops that compete with the oilseed in some parts of the country.

“We usually grow sugarcane, but since there is a forecast of less rain, we are planning to grow soyabeans this time because they need much less water than sugarcane,” said ‌Manoj Kale, a farmer based in Solapur in Maharashtra.

Soyabean acreage ​is likely to rise, but rainfall during the monsoon will be key in determining yields, said D.N. Pathak, executive director of the ⁠Soybean Processors’ Association of India (SOPA).

India’s soyabean imports are expected to rise to a ⁠record 900,000 tonnes this year, driven by lower production last year.

“Soyabean oil imports have been rising in recent years, and higher production ‌is expected to help curb imports,” said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trade house.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia and ​Malaysia, while it imports soyaoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

Published on June 16, 2026