United Soybean Board (USB) director Andy Fabin participated in the Experience Today’s U.S. Soy Advantage meeting, held in Cairo, Egypt on March 5. Mr. Fabin gave a presentation from a U.S. Soy grower’s perspective.
Fifty participants, including major Egyptian crushers, poultry integrators, feed millers, and traders attended this seminar.
The meeting provided a great opportunity to interact with U.S. Soy’s customers in Egypt and bring professionals in nutrition, trade, and supply to speak at the meeting to help the customers to better utilize high quality U.S. soybeans and soybean products. The seminar provided a venue for USSEC’s team to meet and network with customers of U.S. Soy, making it a win-win for all participants.
Brent Babb, Regional Director, EU / Middle East North Africa (MENA); Professor Dr. Mona Mehrez, Vice Minister of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt; Dr. Nabil Darwish, Chairman, Egypt Poultry Association; and Ali Abdi, Minister-Counselor for Agriculture Affairs, U.S. Embassy, Cairo, welcomed attendees.
“Dear Distinguished Guests, it is with my sincere, heartfelt pleasure to welcome you all in Egypt the land of the magnificent River Nile, where an outstanding culture has emerged long ago, to leave behind it its treasures that have always been world wonders that attracted sincere efforts from American, European, as well as Eastern and Egyptian scientists to reveal it,” stated Dr. Darwish in his welcome. “From this standpoint, and the standpoint of the importance of scientific collaboration in every domain, we support and appreciate the collaboration that has lasted for years between the U.S. Soybean Export Council and the Egyptian Poultry Association, who represent the Egyptian companies working in the field of poultry production as well as the supporting industries. We all know that such a collaboration did not start today or in the near past. We can trace it back to 1954, where Egypt was supplied through what was known at that time as the “Fourth Point” with different breeds, including but not limited to Newhampshire, Leghorn, to be the cornerstone of producing broilers’ meat and table eggs for the Egyptian market. The cooperation has also continued through the USAID programs that used to offer cheap loans to the small poultry operations.
“Building on this, cooperation has been ongoing over the last years, through common arrangements of educational activities that included sponsoring annual educational activities in the USA as well as seasonal local and regional activities to develop the veterinarian and agricultural calibers working in the industry and the supporting industries. Moreover, printed materials and manuals have been produced to support the knowledge of the industry. Field visits have also been arranged for the Soybean experts to transfer their know-how to the local community.
“Today, as we are here with your kind selves and with a supreme gathering who represent the figureheads of the poultry industry in Egypt, we are looking forward to furthering these efforts, especially when we know that Egyptian poultry and aquaculture industries rely mainly on agricultural ingredients, with an increasing reliance on imported soybean, together with an increasing need for local soybean in cattle production. We all know how distinguishable is the American soybean from other international soy sources in regards to its amino-acids profile and digestibility.
“Accordingly, in the EPA, we hope we can further our collaboration by increasing the numbers of sponsored delegates from the poultry industry to visit USA scientific events and to extend this collaboration to the slaughterhouse segment, which is expected to grow substantially in Egypt over the coming decade.”
Mr. Sutter, along with Kyle Falk, Trading Manager: CIF and Export Soybeans, ADM, gave a presentation about the U.S. Soy industry.
Aymen Rostom, General Manager, Skretting Egypt, spoke about U.S. Soy’s Performance Advantage and Mr. Babb detailed the sustainability of U.S. Soy.
Matt Ammermann, Commodity Risk Manager – Vice President Eastern Europe/Black Sea Region at INTL FCStone Financial Inc. FCM Division, gave a presentation on the global soy market’s futures and trends.
Tony Freiji, Group President and CEO, Wadi Group, spoke about the local soy and protein situation.
After the seminar, USSEC held a networking reception and dinner.
Mr. Ammermann commented, “Today's meeting in Cairo was well attended by the Egyptian market. USSEC did a great job illustrating the many benefits of U.S. Soy to the current sixth largest buyer of U.S. Soy [Egypt]. Discussions were great and the value of such a meeting not only strengthens relationships, but also expands knowledge.”