Three U.S. grower leaders traveled to Tunisia to participate in USSEC ‘s 5th Poultry Roundtable for the feed industry in Maghreb. United Soybean Board (USB) directors John Harell and Mike Korth, along with American Soybean Association (ASA) director Morey Hill attended the conference in Tunis on April 4 and 5.
The conference, held for the first time in Tunisia, is part of USSEC’s FY18 promotion program in the Middle East / North Africa (MENA) region and provides an excellent forum to discuss current issues in poultry feeding in Maghreb.
Nine Moroccan customers representing the feed and poultry industries attended the conference, escorted by USSEC’s local consultant.
Morgan Haas, Agricultural Attaché for Morocco and Tunisia, based in Rabat, welcomed participants, highlighting the importance of trade and that of soy as the leading U.S. agricultural value product in Maghreb.
Brent Babb, USSEC Regional Director –EU/MENA, highlighted the importance of Maghreb markets. Morocco and Tunisia are the largest buyers of U.S. Soy products in Maghreb and are among key export destinations for U.S. Soy products. North African markets will import over two million tons of U.S. Soy (beans, meal and oil) this year. He equally emphasized the sustainability advantages of U.S. Soy.
Mr. Harell, Mr. Hill, and Mr. Korth presented their farming operations and provided customers with information on how U.S. farmers are proud of using the latest technology to “grow more using less.”
Matt Ammerman, commodity risk manager at FC Stone financial Inc. division covered global supply and demand for soybeans and others ingredient market trends.
Other presentations by USSEC visiting experts focused on the latest developments in the feeding of laying hens and modern broilers highlighting the importance of dietary amino acids and proteins and the use of high quality protein sources such as U.S. soybean meal.
Professor V. Ravindran from the Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences at Massey University presented an update on current feed evaluation focusing on metabolizable energy and amino acid digestibility. In his presentation on the differences between meals of different origins, he emphasized the superiority of U.S. soybean meal as being of more consistent quality product with higher energy value and a better digestible amino acid profile.
USSEC consultants also updated feed mill managers, nutritionists, and integrators on the production and use of full fat soybeans, economics, technical specifications, nutritional advantages and other aspects of extruded full fat soybeans. Dave Albin, vice president of Nutrition & Extrusion Technologies gave a presentation on nutrition and extrusion technologies and the use of full fat soy and express meal in corn – soy poultry rations. Juan Acedo-Rico González covered characteristics and quality control of full fat and express soybean meals.
Presentations of the latest developments of the feed and poultry industries in Maghreb’s respective markets led to discussions of different aspects of soybean products’ business in the region.
 
Compound feed production amounted to 4.3 million metric tons (MMT) in Morocco with 75 percent going to the poultry industry in 2017. Poultry remains by far the main user of soybean meal. The soybean meal market averages 650,000 tons with a U.S market share of about 35 percent.