German soybean acreage rises 174.1% in a decade, but imports still dominate supply
Germany expanded its soybean area from 15,800 hectares in 2016 to 43,300 hectares in 2025, while production more than tripled to 130,800 tonnes. However, imports reached 3.4 million tonnes, with the United States supplying 64.1% of the total.
German acreage and production more than triple
Germany’s soybean area increased by 174.1% between 2016 and 2025, reflecting the crop’s expanding role in animal feed and foods such as tofu and soy yoghurt. According to the Federal Statistical Office, known as Destatis, farmers planted 43,300 hectares with soybeans in 2025, compared with 15,800 hectares in 2016, the first year for which the agency collected soybean data.
Despite that growth, soybeans occupied only 0.3% of Germany’s total utilised agricultural area in 2025. Cultivation was also geographically concentrated: Bavaria accounted for 52.7% of the national soybean area.
Harvest volumes grew even faster than acreage. German soybean production rose from 43,200 tonnes in 2016 to 130,800 tonnes in 2025, an increase of 202.8%. Bavaria produced 57.3% of the national harvest, followed by Baden-Württemberg with 18.0% and Saxony-Anhalt with 6.9%. The figures show that Germany has built a larger domestic production base, but that base remains concentrated in a limited number of regions.
Imports remain the main source of supply
Domestic output is still small compared with Germany’s inbound soybean trade. Destatis reported imports of 3.4 million tonnes in 2025, up 8.4% from 3.1 million tonnes in 2016. The imported volume was about 26 times the size of the domestic harvest, underlining the continuing importance of overseas suppliers to German processors, feed manufacturers and food producers.
The United States was Germany’s largest soybean supplier in 2025, shipping 2.2 million tonnes. That represented 64.1% of total imports, or just under two thirds. Brazil supplied 16.5%, while Ukraine accounted for 9.0%. Together, the three countries provided 89.6% of Germany’s imported soybeans, indicating a highly concentrated supplier base despite the growth in domestic cultivation.
The comparison also shows that acreage expansion has not displaced imports. While Germany’s planted area rose by 174.1% over the decade, imports still increased by 8.4%. Demand from feed and food uses therefore remains considerably larger than national production capacity.
Germany grows faster than the EU from a small base
Germany’s acreage expanded much faster in percentage terms than soybean cultivation across the European Union. Eurostat data cited by Destatis show that the EU planted 1.0 million hectares in 2025, 22.1% more than the 831,200 hectares recorded in 2016.
EU soybean production increased from 2.5 million tonnes in 2016 to around 2.8 million tonnes in 2025, a gain of 9.9%. Destatis noted that fluctuating yields meant production was higher in some intervening years, including 2018 and 2024. The more modest increase in output than acreage across the EU points to the role of annual yield variation in determining available supply.
Italy was the EU’s largest soybean producer in 2025, with 297,800 hectares and a harvest of 1.1 million tonnes. France ranked second with 150,200 hectares and 391,900 tonnes. Together, Italy and France represented 44.1% of EU soybean acreage and 53.5% of its harvest.
Germany remained a relatively small EU producer despite its rapid growth. It accounted for 4.3% of the bloc’s soybean area and 4.7% of production in 2025. For market participants, the figures distinguish two trends: domestic cultivation is expanding quickly, particularly in southern Germany, while the country’s soybean market continues to depend primarily on imported raw material.
