U.S. Soybean Global Demand Is Stong

Out of the last six years, consumption of U.S. soy has outpaced production worldwide. Doug Winter, chairperson for the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USEC) and soy farmer from Illinois, shares more about global supply and demand as well as growing markets.

“United State’s soy is a superior crop with better milling aspects as far as crushing aspects of it with the amino acids,” says Winter. “We’re seeing a lot more interest in demand and more sales worldwide.”

As consumption figures continue to rise, from a product standpoint and the U.S. as a supplier, things are looking very good. There is a lot of interest with international customers in what the U.S. has coming up and the quality of the crop.

Winter adds, “A lot of the countries we deal with are price buyers and have moved into more diversified markets. USEC has provided value calculators and international customers are using them to compare other sources to U.S. soy and finding out that ours, even though the price is higher, is a better purchasing decision.”

Sustainability is becoming an increasingly larger part of the conversation. Winter says that U.S. produced soy has a great advantage over other sources because of the accountability and certifiability of shipments. 

Pakistan does not have a cold chain so their profit margins are smaller. They are beginning to look at the value of U.S. soy and USEC is working with that emerging market moving forward. Other countries are beginning to turn to U.S. soy as well as they start to adapt to GMOs and the production advantages.

Winter says the work USEC is doing with emerging markets is important to pay attention to as they are showing great increase in size. The Sub-Saharan Africa has been a model success story as they have built a great loyalty to U.S. Soy. USEC helped them to get their livestock and aquaculture operations running and showcased more efficient production practices.

“I think these emerging markets are going to become a larger and larger factor in the next few years for U.S. soybean producers and prices,” adds Winter.