More than 600 participants from 19 countries joined USSEC’s 1st Soy Outlook Virtual Conference – Middle East North Africa (MENA) on May 11. Major crushers, poultry integrators, and traders hailed from Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

 
Brent Babb, USSEC Regional Director – Europe/MENA, United Soybean Board (USB) director Chuck Prellwitz of Wisconsin, and American Soybean Association (ASA) director Bill Gordon, of Minnesota welcomed the participants.
Matt Ammermann, Commodity Risk Manager – Vice President Eastern Europe/Black Sea Region at INTL FCStone presented “The Global Soy Markets Situation and Outlook for 2021 – 2022 and Longer-Term Prospects.”
“We have a lot to consider amid COVID-19 implications as well as the fundamentals of the soy market specifically, this year will likely find increased volatility as a result,” Mr. Ammermann states. “The growing season in the U.S. has a great start to it, but we also have plenty or growing season risks still fully ahead of us.”
Jay O’Neil of HJ O’Neil Commodity Consulting presented “The Global Ports, Ocean Transport & Logistics Situation and Outlook for 2021 – 2022 and Longer-Term Prospects.”
“These are very unusual, and therefore very uncertain times and I believe it is critical that USSEC maintains contact with global soy customers to ensure them that U.S. Soy is readily available and competitively priced to meet any demand they have,” Mr. O’Neil states.
Customers appreciated the virtual conference. “Thank you, USSEC team, for organizing a very interesting conference in a such challenging time and sharing views with people from different cultures from different time zones,” says Djamal Djouhri, CEO of Al Ghurair Resources. “Knowledge sharing on a wide spectrum will certainly create credibility and reliability for U.S. origin [soy].”