Production of soy worldwide has, in the past three decades, grown from 55 million tonnes (1975) to 223 million tones in 2006, a growth of 324%. The demand made a sudden jump in the 1990's when bones and other leftovers from the meat industry were no longer allowed to be used as a protein source in animal feed. A third of today's soy harvest comes from South America, while the US is still one of the world’s largest soy producer. But while the US mostly uses its soy for its own meat production, countries in South America export theirs' to Europe and China.

Argentina exports 94% of its soy production (2004), and Brazil exports 76%. In the past years, the area of soy plantations in South America increased with 3.5 million hectares yearly (the size of the Netherlands). In Argentina and the US, almost all soy is genetically modified. In Brazil, where GM-soy was officially forbidden until President Lula came in power, around 44% is now GM.

The European soy import is 39 million tons yearly, or a line of 23,000 kilometers with loaded trucks. Around 90% of the European imports are used as animal feed.

sources:
'Soja Doorgelicht' (brochure from the Dutch Soy Coalition)
the Oil Mill Gazetteer, Volume 110