U.S. soy grower leaders traveled to China for an agribusiness trade mission (ATM) organized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to China from May 5-9.  United Soybean Board (USB) Director Larry Marek and American Soybean Association (ASA) Treasurer Richard Wilkins participated in this mission, which was led by USDA Undersecretary of Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Mike Scuse.  The goal of the mission was to promote U.S. agricultural products to China’s northeastern provinces of Liaoning and Jilin and to strengthen partnership and cooperation between agribusiness partnerships and cooperative relations between the U.S. and China.
USSEC – China assisted with the arrangements for the USDA/ATM delegation to visit a major soybean receiving port, Dalian Beiliang Port, along with two crushing facilities in the port area.  The objective of these visits was to demonstrate the close working relationship with China’s soybean processing industry that the U.S. soybean industry has established over the past 30 years, which, together with USSEC’s efforts in building demand and preference among China’s livestock and feed industries, has made China the # 1 customer of U.S. soybeans.  Soybean exports have become the leading commodity of all U.S. exports to China in terms of total value.  USSEC China also arranged individual meetings and visits for soy grower leaders with key customers in soybean import and feed processing businesses in Dalian and Shenyang, Liaoning Province, to discuss current market challenges, U.S. crop updates, farm operations, quality issues with imported beans, and collaborations in promoting U.S. soy products.  The customers with whom USSEC interacted on this trip expressed their appreciation for the U.S. soy industry’s long-time support and assistance in facilitating trade, adopting advanced technology in livestock and feed production, and their preference for U.S. soy products in animal diets.
USSEC Regional Director – North Asia Paul Burke escorted the grower leaders throughout the trip and USSEC Country Director - China Zhang Xiaoping, Animal Utilization Technical Director Richard Han and Livestock Program Manager Sunny Zhang participated in portions of the activities in Dalian, Shenyang and Changchun, respectively.