USSEC traveled to northeastern China’s soy-growing province of Heilongjiang to hold workshops and exchange market information with local soy growers on December 13 and 14.

Three experts including Chen Beier, senior vice president of R. J. O’Brien’s Asia department; Hanver Li, chairman of Shanghai JC Intelligence; and Liu Zhaofu, founder and general manager of the soy portal website Dadou.cn, were invited by USSEC to speak to local soybean growers in the snow-covered Nenjiang county of Heilongjiang province.
The USSEC team was received by Li Tiehui, deputy chief of the agricultural authority of Nenjiang County, who escorted the team to a local cooperative farm on December 13 and an agricultural technology service center on the 14th.
In the workshops, Nenjiang soy growers shared with USSEC their concerns over market uncertainties, increased competition from domestic soy growers from other parts of the country, and soybean price drops. Some expressed pessimism over the short-term future. In response to their concerns, USSEC consultants not only delivered presentations to introduce some of the U.S. soybean industry’s experience and practice in dealing with the challenges and problems which are common to soy growers from all over the world, but also shared some practical industry-leading techniques in analyzing the soybean market and predicting future trends.
One soy grower shared his personal experience of rushing into the options market ten years ago without sufficient knowledge to guide his way, only to suffer a loss of five million renminbi (RMB) in a rash attempt. USSEC consultant Bell Chen, a seasoned options trading professional from the oldest and largest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the U.S., encouraged him to start from the basics and pay particular attention to the most up-to-date techniques necessary to calculate the odds and reduce risks.
In his closing remarks, Mr. Li said he would like to express gratitude on behalf of the Nenjiang government to USSEC for its continued contribution to the local economy through sharing some of the U.S. soybean industry’s best practices, and offering local soy growers ready-to-use practical knowledge in protecting themselves against market volatility.