In relation to persistent rising food prices, Japan has seen a decline in overall vegetable oil consumption. Due to the more favorable crush margin for canola compared to soybeans, FAS/Tokyo forecasts a reduction in soybean imports and crush, while seeing an increase in rapeseed imports and crush for both MY 2023/24 and MY 2024/25. Consequently, Japan is expected to decrease domestic soybean meal production, leading to an increase in soybean meal imports. The elevated price of North American identity-preserved, food-grade soybeans coupled with the Japanese yen depreciation has weakened their price competitiveness versus domestically produced ones. This pricing shift is causing Japanese farmers to consider planting more soybeans.