REGIONAL REVIEW: SOUTH ASIA South Asia oilseeds and feed O ilseed crushing has long played a key role in South Asia's food production, perhaps because of the absence of animal fats in much of the traditional diet. There is no region of the world with a more balanced di- Region is second-largest market for imported vegetable oil behind the E.U.; India could become a driving force in global soybean demand by David McKee versity of oilseed crops. But continued low productivity in oilseeds, combined with rapidly expanding population and higher incomes have turned the region into the single-largest market for imported vegetable oil after the E.U. Indeed, in 2005 India, Pakistan and Bangladesh imported about 7.5 million tonnes of crude and refined palm and soybean oil. India produces and processes be- Photo by Clayton Thacker www.World-Grain.com / World Grain / August 2006 27http://www.World-Grain.com