co-located with Midwest Shipper Associations’s 10th Annual Midwest Specialty Grains / Grain Export Shipping Conference & Trade Show

About the 2013 Global U.S. Soy Trade Exchange

Sharon Covert, USSEC Vice Chair and USB Director, will participate on a discussion panel focusing on the topic “Feed Volatility and Competiveness of the EU Livestock Sector—A Curse or a Boon for the European Feed Industry?”

The organization’s goal is to promote international trade in agricultural communities and to protect the interests of its members worldwide.  The conference is aimed at gathering industry leaders, regulators, policy makers and other key stakeholders from around the world to discuss both specific trade issues and further trends.

The interests of U.S. soy will be represented at this meeting.  USB Farmer Director Nancy Kavazanjian will give a speech titled “U.S. Soy and Sustainability—The Way Forward.”

International Aquafeed Magazine is published six times yearly and is based in the United Kingdom.  The publication’s key focus is scientific research and development in nutrition within the aquaculture industry and the technology that can commercialize these products.  Founded in 1998, the magazine is published in print and online with social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and an online blog, “The Aquaculturists.”

Int’l Aquafeed article

Based on Mr. Manomaitis’ observations, Cambodia is unlikely to be a target for USSEC’s efforts for some time to come (the projected 2019 target is just 185,000 MT of aquaculture product).  There is, however, a strong interest in learning better approaches, both for general culture and, specifically, for feed-based marine fish culture.  Currently, both the government and the industry lack knowledge in best management approaches and the value of using feeds as compared to trash fish-based systems.  For this reason, USSEC’s visit was well-timed to introduce the concepts for better culture and aquafeed use to an audience searching for better approaches.

The information provided by USSEC during this visit to government workers and farmers in the industry was much appreciated.  Mr. Thay remarked that the training and discussion of hatchery management was of particular value and that he expected to see significant changes in MARDeC’s future approach.  The proper management, development and ultimate success of this hatchery will provide positive results for the local and regional marine fish industry.

Lukas Manomaitis poses with MARDeC hatchery staff during a recent USSEC visit and training session.

The USSEC consultants held several meetings with customers during the show persuading them to increase the consumption of U.S. soy products in their operations; prospects were also persuaded to work together to develop other promotional activities in aquaculture such as feeding demonstrations and technical assistance visits to their facilities.  These discussions yielded more than twelve serious business contacts.  USSEC consultants also addressed the concerns of visitors to the booth regarding the use and applications of U.S. soy products in aquaculture.  Visitors to the USSEC booth received technical literature along with promotional gifts.

The participation of U.S. soy growers in the International Seafood Show and at the business meetings was key for them to be cognizant of the market opportunities and future projects that will be developed in the aquaculture field in various regions.

USSEC team members at the International Seafood Show booth.

USSEC Southeast Asia Technical Director – Aquaculture Lukas Manomaitis has submitted an abstract titled “Investing in Southeast Asian Aquaculture:  Where Targeted Investment Can Make a Difference for Industry and Profit for Investors” and will give an oral presentation at the meeting on this topic.  Mr. Manomaitis, together with Dr. Michael Cremer, International Aquaculture Senior Program Advisor; Anthony Emms, John Lindblom, USSEC Regional Director – Southeast Asia; and Colby Sutter, International Aquaculture Marketing Manager, have been conducting a survey of the aquaculture industry in SE Asia to better learn what hinders investment in the industry and to identify where targeted investment could improve the aquaculture value chain in SE Asia.

The presentation will detail how, over the course of USSEC’s 30 year involvement in the SE Asia region, the aquaculture industry has grown but continues to be held back by critical control points in the aquaculture value chain and lack of long term thinking.  The objective of the survey is to specifically identify where further investment could make the most impact and detailing the steps to be taken to encourage targeted investment by both regional and extra- regional investors.  The expected benefit to the U.S. soy industry is that identified constraints could be overcome and the industry would have the increased confidence to continue moving toward high quality, feed-based systems.  Soy would then see increased inclusion in feed as the primary replacement protein.

The focuses of the survey are the target nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

According to Korea Aquaculture Utilization contractor In Soo Shin, USSEC’s objective is to increase demand of soybean meal (SBM) and soy protein concentrate (SPC) from the Korean aquaculture sector.  Target audiences who learned about the attributes of SBM and SPC as a fish meal alternative through on-site visits or meetings have begun using extruded feeds containing SBM at 4-9% level by weight to replace 7-15% of fish meal.  USSEC intends to increase the inclusions of SBM or SPC up to 18% (30% of fish meal).

USSEC will complement these efforts by organizing a roundtable to increase acceptance of the extruded feeds containing SBM or SPC ratios as recommended by USSEC.  Korean flounder growers and aqua feed mill representatives will be invited to this roundtable, which will take place in Jeju, the largest flounder production center in Korea, on May 29.

USSEC Regional Director – Southeast Asia John Lindblom will moderate two sessions, in addition to being a panel moderator.  USSEC Chairman of the Board Randy Mann will speak on 2014 U.S. soybean crop prospects and will participate in a panel discussion.  Timothy Loh, USSEC Deputy Regional Director – Southeast Asia, will moderate a workshop session focusing on procurement strategies.  Additionally, many USSEC representatives from various offices worldwide are slated to represent the interests of the U.S. soy industry at this conference.

In a joint statement, the United States was joined by the governments of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Paraguay to announce their intention to work collaboratively to remove global barriers to the trade of agricultural biotechnology and promote science-based, transparent and predictable regulatory approaches.

The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA), American Soybean Association (ASA), Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA), National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), and National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) said they welcome the leadership of the U.S. government – including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United States Trade Representative, and U.S. Department of State, as well as their counterparts in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Paraguay – in taking these steps toward greater collaboration to systematically address global barriers to trade of products derived from agricultural biotechnology.

The U.S. agriculture sector agrees that a particular area of concern is the timeliness and efficiency of global regulatory systems. In the joint statement, the like-minded governments have highlighted their intention to promote synchronization of authorizations by regulatory authorities – in particular for food, feed and processing purposes.

The six nations also stated their intention to collaborate in the development of domestic, regional and international approaches to facilitate the global management of low-level presence of biotechnology-derived commodities that are authorized in one or more countries, but not in the country of import.

Agricultural production from these six countries is a major contributor to global food security.  Collectively, these countries provide the vast majority of corn and soybean supply in international markets.  Production and trade in all six of these countries use modern technology, including plant biotechnology, to provide for consumers’ needs around the world.

The joint statement can be accessed via the Foreign Agricultural Service’s website: http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/biotech/biotech_trade.asp.

###

ASA represents all U.S. soybean farmers on domestic and international issues of importance to the soybean industry. ASA’s advocacy efforts are made possible through voluntary farmer membership by farmers in 30 states where soybeans are grown.

For more information contact:

Patrick Delaney, ASA Communications Director, 202-969-7040, pdelaney@soy.org
Access this release at www.SoyGrowers.com/newsroom/news.htm.