USSEC conducted a series of soybean meal seminars and round table meeting for the Japanese poultry industry about U.S. soybean meal quality.  Mr. Scott Singlestad, USB Director, Dr. Gonzalo Mateos, Professor of University of Spain, Mr. Paul Burke, USSEC Regional Director for North Asia, and Mitsuyuki Nishimura, USSEC Country for Japan, attended the events on behalf of U.S. soy.

The mission included a poultry seminar at Hachinohe attended by twenty broiler producers and ten feed millers.  The group then held seminars for Dai-Ichi Broiler in Hachinohe and Zen-Noh Chicken Foods in Tokyo.  The Roundtable Meeting with broiler growers, feed millers, oil crushers and traders also took place in Tokyo.   The series ended with a seminar in Kagoshima.

During the trip, Singlestad presented to poultry industry representatives the current and future corn and soy production outlook in the U.S.  Burke featured the future global supply and demand of soybean meal and Dr. Mateos talked about the nutritional values of soybean meal from different origins.

Various chicken growers participated in the events, including Aomori Poultry, a layer with 500,000 hens; MP Agro; Dai-Ichi Broiler; Zen-Noh Chicken Foods; Nisshin Marubeni Feed; and Japan Farm Co.
Mr. Sasaki, Manager of Chubu Feed Co., commented that he had never before learned about nutritional differences of soybean meal by country.  Chubu Feed Co. is a major supplier of compound feed to the poultry industry and, per Sasaki, most of broiler and layer companies were not yet told about country of origin variations of soybean meal.
About the event, Country Director Nishimura says, "It was the first time animal growers, feed millers, oil crushers and trading companies were brought together this way to discuss nutritional facts about U.S. soybean meal.  Participation by a U.S. grower leader and university professor greatly contributed to the event's success."