United Soybean Board (USB) director Nancy Kavazanjian traveled to Taipei, Taiwan to participate in the 2018/19 U.S. Soybean Outlook & Global Oilseeds Supply/Demand Conference. USSEC Taiwan cooperated with the Taiwan Vegetable Oil Manufacturers’ Association (TVOA) to host the 2018/19 U.S. Soy Outlook Conference at the Howard Plaza Taipei on November 13.
More than 90 attendees came from TVOA and the crushing, feed and soyfood industries, as well as agents of U.S. commodity soybean exporters, including Meherrin, CGB, CHS, and Cargill, and U.S. non-GMO soybean exporters such as Neco Seeds.
Ms. Kavazanjian introduced her farm, planting plans for the 2019 crop, and high oleic soybean oil. Dr. Seth Naeve, from the University of Minnesota, gave a speech and gave the results of the 2018 crop quality survey. Attendees were particularly interested in survey results from the western Corn Belt because they have purchased approximately ten Panamax bulk shipments via the Pacific Northwest (PNW) over 15 years. David Hightower, president of Hartfield Trading Partners Ltd., spoke about the global vegetable oil market and soybean futures trends. USSEC Stakeholder Relations Manager Will McNair also gave a presentation and introduced USSEC members to attendees.
The Convener of Board Supervisors at TVOA, Tony Shu, addressed opening remarks to the attendees. Mark Petry, U.S. attaché, also provided opening remarks in fluent Chinese, thanking the attendees for their long-time support and business. Ms. Kavazajian, representing U.S. soybean growers, thanked the Taiwan soy industry for importing two million metric tons (MT) from the U.S. in 2018 and for their support in applying sustainability certificates and logos.