USSEC provided an on-site technical seminar for Sodrugestvo technical staff and managers at the end of March. Sodrugestvo is the largest soybean crusher in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), crushing about two million metric tons (MMT) of soybeans at its Kaliningrad site. The company is the single largest producer of soy protein concentrate (SPC) in Russia and CIS. In January, Sodrugestvo started a new multispeed crushing plant in Belarus with a capacity 2,000 metric tons (MT) per day for crushing soybeans and rapeseed.

Sodrugestvo is interested not only in the growth of its crushing capacities, but in a constant improvement of the quality of finished products and the production of new types of value-added soy products meeting the demand of modern compound feed producers and animal breeders. Currently, the company is investigating business opportunities for the development of production of fermented soybean meal (FSBM).
USSEC animal utilization consultant Dr. Jan van Eys and local consultant Dr. Maria Domoroshchenkova visited the Sodrugestvo Group. Dr. van Eys presented, “Quality Parameters of Soybean Meal and Potential Utilization of Fermented Soy in Livestock Feeding,” which focused on the quality of soybean meal and the potential impact of fermentation or enzymatic treatment on its nutritional characteristics. He emphasized that U.S. Soy is particularly suited to both procedures due to higher carbohydrate content. In addition, comparisons between the origins of soybean meal were demonstrated in terms on protein, energy, and sugar content.
The seminar was followed by a visit to an SPC plant and a quality control laboratory.
The education of local customers on the nutritional characteristics of soybean meal and of second generation soy products such as SPC and fermented soybean meal and the use of these in poultry, animal, and aqua diets is important for the further development of Russia’s soy market. Providing science-based information to local customers on the benefits of U.S. soybeans as a reliable and sustainable raw material for the production of soy protein products for animal feeding is helpful to build demand for U.S. soybeans.