All Pakistan Solvent Extractors’ Association (APSEA), in partnership with USSEC, will host the inaugural Pakistan Oilseeds Summit in Lahore, Pakistan on December 6-7, 2019. The Summit aims to provide a platform for oilseed industry leaders to share knowledge about challenges and opportunities, as well as build or strengthen relationships in the dynamic Pakistani oilseed market which has grown from less than a million metric tons to more than 3.3 million tons (MT) within three years.
USSEC and American Soybean Association (ASA) director Brian Kemp will join USSEC staff at the summit. While at the conference, Mr. Kemp will network with Pakistani crushers, poultry farmers, integrators, feed millers, and animal nutritionists to educate them on the benefits of U.S. Soy as well as hear about the concerns, road blocks and challenges they face when making soy purchasing decisions. USSEC’s partnership in the summit will help build relationships between U.S. soy producers and buyers in Pakistan and reinforce that Pakistan is an important market for U.S. Soy.
Representatives from Cargill, LDC, Scoular, COFCO, Olam and Al Ghurair are scheduled to attend the summit. A signing ceremony is also scheduled where an anticipated 26 buyers and several suppliers mentioned above will sign contracts totaling 426,000 MT of U.S. soybeans. The summit will hopefully produce an even larger number of contracted purchases of U.S. Soy for this growing market.
Summit organizers hope it will prove to be a strong vehicle to project Pakistan not only as a consistent buyer of oilseeds but will also give a strong message to the global markets to look at Pakistan as the most logistically friendly country in the Asia Subcontinent region. USSEC works to assure buyers of oilseeds in Pakistan that they can rely on U.S. soy growers to provide high-quality soy, with multiple shipping options, and that the U.S. soy industry provides trade and technical servicing activities to support crushers and end users. Participation by grower leaders, such as Mr. Kemp, is a key element of this effort’s success.