Brazil’s soy crushing plants crushed 35.4 million tons of soybeans in 2013 – or at 60.3% of capacity. This is 3.4% lower than 2012 when the industry crushed 36.4 million tons or 63.7% of capacity, despite the country harvesting its biggest soybean crop in history. According to Brazil’s crusher’s association, Abiove the drop in capacity is due to taxes that discourage processing by giving producers incentives to export raw soybeans. Earlier this year the Brazilian government lifted the PIS/Cofins social security and payroll tax from the cooking oil industry leaving operators holding large numbers of worthless tax credits, hurting the industry’s profit margins, idling plants, and reducing investment interest in the industry.
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