USSEC participated at the Annual Conference of the Bulgarian Feed Manufactures Association (BFMA) in Veliko Taronovo, Bulgaria on April 16. USSEC’s main goal was to present the advantages and competitive quality of U.S. Soy.
USSEC consultant Dr. Iani Chihaia presented two papers related to soybean meal quality and full fat soybean meal usage, emphasizing digestibility and processing as key, closely related factors in quality differentiation and their impact on today broiler’s nutrition and feed formulation. Dr. Chihaia also discussed the economics of different origin soybean meals and made suggestions how nutritionists can best formulate to squeeze every cent of value out of their poultry and pig diets.
Over 60 delegates of the Bulgarian soy customers attended the event, represented by decision makers (owners and general managers) and technicians (nutritionists, quality control managers and purchasing managers). According to the random conference survey, over 90 percent of them understood the characteristics of U.S. Soy, compared to soy of other origins.
Dr. Hristineta Stancheva, BFMA president said, “Besides strengthening relationships between USSEC and BFMA, the event was an excellent opportunity for the delegates to review traditional concepts of soy quality and learn new ideas about how to design and implement a sound quality control program, to accurately monitor quality and value major nutrients in soybean meals.” Dr. Stancheva further elaborated, “It was clearly understood that the differences in the digestible energy and amino acids content of the soybean meal are due to origin and processing and this must be taken in consideration in purchasing and feed formulation.”
Bulgaria enjoys excellent natural conditions for developing agriculture, with very good natural conditions for a wide variety of grains crops. Cultivated agricultural land occupies about 4.9 million hectares or 49.5 percent of the country’s total territory.
Just a few weeks ago, the German group PHW purchased the majority of shares of a leading broiler integrator, located in the central region of Bulgaria. Another project should take shape soon in the Dobrich region (northeast region of the country), where Chinese investors plan to build a large capacity feed mill and a sunflower crushing plant, according to a recent announcement from the Bulgarian Ministry of the Agriculture.
In this regard, Bulgaria is not only an Eastern European country offering investment opportunities in the feed and livestock sectors, but also shows promising potential for growth in the regional soy markets. Lack of availability of high quality protein sources, especially soybean meal remains, at this stage, one of the limiting factors for the rapid growth of the local feed and livestock industry.