USSEC, in close partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), provided support to the Moroccan Poultry Federation’s (FISA) 20th Dawajine Poultry Show as part of several events held within Morocco and in the North Africa region to strengthen the U.S. as a major supplier of high-quality soybeans and soybean products.
The 20th Dawajine Poultry Show confirmed its place as an international forum, reinforcing its role as a major regional event. Around 12,000 professional visitors, mostly from Morocco, and nearly 380 organizations from 20 countries participated. FISA aims to position the show as a reference and poultry development tool at the national and regional levels. This year, the event aimed to highlight progress to the African of markets Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria with new delegations from French West African-speaking markets.
Morocco remains one of the leading soybean meal users in North Africa and the Middle East with an estimated 650,000-ton market. USSEC has worked with poultry producers in Morocco for several years, focusing on the economic benefits of using high quality U.S. soybean products. U.S. soybean meal remains a major protein source with a good amino acid profile used in poultry feed, replacing other lower protein sources. Poultry feed producers prefer U.S. soybean meal due to its consistent quality and performance. Their customers also prefer the quality of meal and oil produced from U.S. soybeans.
Morgan Haas, Agricultural Attaché for Morocco and Tunisia at the U.S. Embassy in Rabat along with the agricultural specialist, visited the show for the first time. Other participants included FISA presidents, hatchery and feed manufacturers’ associations, and several customers.
The Morocco market is the only market in North Africa that imports all components of the soy complex (beans, hulls, meal and oil). Local crush averaged 120,000 metric tons over the last four years. More recently, the largest mill in the region started processing full fat soybeans with three successive batches of U.S. soybeans.
USSEC’s efforts continue to educate the users of U.S. soybean products and keep them up to date on the preeminent techniques to improve returns and be more efficient. Good communication along the entire poultry value chain from producers to feed manufacturers remains essential. As feed manufacturers are increasingly keen on getting the most from the ingredients used in poultry feed, USSEC continues to promote the intrinsic advantages of U.S. soybean products to differentiate U.S. soybeans and build customer preference.
New feed mills and poultry integrations continue their contribution to market expansion and development providing over 53 percent of the total meat consumed in the market. Poultry, the most dynamic sector of animal production in market, which enjoyed a five to seven percent growth annually over the last twenty years, remains by far the main largest segment user of U.S. soybean meal followed by large dairy operations.
Addressing customers’ issues and needs, maintaining the use of U.S. soybean meal in poultry feed, competing with other unsustainable protein sources, and supplying end users with a reliable trusted, constant quality source of highly available nutrients are some of the program objectives developed by USSEC and USDA - FAS. USSEC is seen as a trusted and reliable partner that continues to intensively assist the development of local poultry production, livestock, and feed industries to increase and develop demand, thus expanding the market and maintaining the U.S. share in soybean meal supply.