The Korean feed industry has recently been seeking to cover their soybean meal demand for the first two to three months of the 2014 calendar year.  In line with this plan, Korea Feed Association (KFA)-member feed mills purchased 135,000 metric tons (MT) of U.S. soybean meal during the first week of October for deliveries set for January and February 2014.  Out of the 135,000 MT of U.S. soybean meal sold to KFA, 110,000 MT of U.S. origin was selected through the open tender.  KFA paid a premium of $7.30 over South American meal and $23.90 over Indian meal.  This premium price paid for U.S. meal reflects the preference that the KFA-member feed mills have for U.S. soybean meal over meal from other origins.  The origin of the remaining 25,000 MT was selected via private negotiation, in which only U.S. meal was considered.

The preference that the Korea Feed Association-member feed mills have for U.S. soybean meal comes from a combination of their actual experience with the quality of U.S. meal they have used in the past, their expectations of the quality of U.S. meal which will arrive next January and February, and the relationship between USSEC and KFA and its member feed mills.  USSEC has been focused on the differentiation of U.S. soybean meal from competitors’ meal on the quality of digestible amino acids, a strategy that is clearly working.