USSEC held its first roundtable meetings for soy oil processors in Casablanca, Morocco on June 2.
Local USSEC consultant Benabdeljelil Khalid opened the meeting, highlighting USSEC’s mission in the Middle East / North Africa (MENA) region and the importance of U.S. Soy in Morocco’s market.
USSEC MENA Regional Soybean Oil Technical and Commercial Consultant Najeh Asad gave an introductory presentation on the current status of the soybean oil market and industry in Morocco and the soy value chain in Maghreb, where soy is the leading U.S. agricultural value product. Morocco uses over 400 thousand metric tons (TMT) of soy oil of a total vegetable oil consumption of 676 TMT. The consultant addressed customers’ issues and presented the latest on optimization parameters of the refining process to produce high quality soybean oil.
The roundtable meetings were followed by onsite visits to key leading customers during which the importance of U.S. Soy oil was highlighted and differential advantages of crude U.S. Soy oil were presented such as lower refining losses, insured quality and logistics, which contribute to a higher quality product.
The consultants reminded customers of the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) standards of soy oil and provided quality control benchmarking required for every step of the refining process. Topics covered included the latest innovations, analytical technology procedures, trouble shooting issues, and equations to evaluate losses, among others.
Maghreb remains the largest market place for soybean oil consumption in the MENA region where soy oil is the predominant vegetable oil.