USSEC Conducts U.S. Soy Supply Workshop – Agribusiness Series, Promoting the U.S. Soy Advantage Message to Customers in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines
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USSEC conducted three workshops in the major cities of Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila from May 23 through 31 to promote U.S. Soy. The “Agribusiness Series” is a custom-made program designed by USSEC in cooperation with the Northern Crop Institute (NCI) / North Dakota State University (NDSU) and the International Grains Program (IGP) to create a platform for USSEC to stress the benefits and advantages of U.S. soybeans and soybean meal to a select audience.
The theme for the series of workshops is “Managing Risk and Profitability from Field to Food.” Each workshop featured a two-day program aimed at educating and informing buyers of global supply and demand dynamics, pricing trends and other significant market developments, with particular focus on U.S. Soy.
Speakers at the workshop included U.S. Soy grower leader, C.D. Simmons III (director, United Soybean Board (USB)) from Leland, Mississippi; Dr Frayne Olsen (NDSU); Jay O’Neil (IGP, Kansas State Unviersity); Dr. Budi Tangendjaja (USSEC Technical Consultant - Jakarta); and Dr. Basilisa Reas (USSEC Technical Consultant – Manila and Bangkok), as well as Timothy Loh (USSEC Regional Director – Southeast Asia).
Mr. Simmons shared his family’s sustainable farming practices and provided insights into the production and export of U.S. Soy international destinations. He talked about the investments in technology that he has made to increase field productivity and took questions from the participants on farming, cost of production, and price risk hedging from a producer’s perspective, among other subjects.
Other topics covered in the workshop include: supply and demand outlook, price/risk management and hedging strategies, and functionality of raw feed ingredients and the importance of quality. Comparison between U.S. and alternative origination was also discussed in terms of economic and nutritional advantages in animal feed formulation. Mr. Loh also gave a presentation on the U.S. Soy Sustainability Assurance Protocol (SSAP) program.
Tina Liao from the CME Group was also on hand to provide the attendees with additional insights into risk management as she introduced CME’s latest offering of shorted-dated grains options and “QuickStrike,” an online option pricing and analysis tool developed by CME for buyers to identify trends and trade opportunities.
The workshops were generally well-attended and even over-subscribed in some locations. Overall, more than 120 local importers, end users, traders, and suppliers attended the workshops. This includes local representatives from major trading companies, commercial staff, animal nutritionists and finance executives coming from feed mills, integrated livestock, swine and poultry companies.