The U.S. Soy Asia Trade Exchange (ATX) was held May 15 to 17 in Bangkok, Thailand.
This three-day multi-regional buyers’ conference provided a vital opportunity to connect more than 300 buyers from Southeast Asia and the Asia Subcontinent with U.S. exporters and U.S. soy grower leaders.
Participants attended presentations and panels focusing on the quality of the U.S. soy crop, global soy protein outlook, sustainable production, and transportation. U.S. soy crushers and buyers also learned about topics such as key research, markets, crop quality, consumers’ views on sustainability, and the U.S. Soy Advantage.
United Soybean Board (USB) and Delaware Soybean Board director Cory Atkins and American Soybean Association (ASA) and Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) director Morey Hill growers spoke, providing U.S. soy growers’ perspectives and participated in a U.S. Soy Advantage panel session.
In particular, attendees learned more about the value of U.S. Soy in animal feed. USSEC consultant Gonzalo Mateos, professor of animal sciences at the University of Madrid, gave a presentation, “U.S. Soy: Ideal Offering of Essential Amino Acids and Metabolizable Energy.” Additionally, Dr. Mateos, along with USSEC Technical Consultant – Southeast Asia Basilisa Reas, took part in a panel session, “Maximizing the Value of U.S. Soy in Animal Feed.”
This event follows the multi-regional U.S. Soy EU/MENA Trade Exchange held in Barcelona last November, which resulted in new connections made between U.S. suppliers and soybean purchasers from Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa and the Bangkok event yielded similar results. These multi-regional conferences are a part of USSEC’s ongoing mission to grow U.S. Soy’s presence in global markets where it can have an impact, and invest in countries that represent future growth opportunities for our farmers and exporters.
In a post-event survey of participants, 90 percent indicated that they generated useful contacts with U.S. traders or potential business partners; 92.6 percent said they learned new information about U.S. soy characteristics that could be useful for their business; 91.7 percent learned why purchasing or using U.S. Soy and soy products could be profitable for their business; 40.5 percent negotiated sales contracts; and 15.7 percent signed sales contracts.
ATX by the numbers . . .