U.S. grower leaders including American Soybean Association (ASA) director Monte Peterson and United Soybean Board (USB) director Walter Godwin traveled to Shanghai in eastern China to visit local customers and speak at the 2016 U.S. Soy Buyers Market Outlook Conference Nov. 12 – 15.
On November 14, more than 110 participants attended the 2016 US Soy Buyers Market Outlook Conference, representing Chinese industry leaders from key importers, crushers and feed integrators. The conference was aimed at promoting U.S. soybeans by providing the latest information on U.S. soy crop size, quality, and U.S. farmers’ perspectives on the global supply and demand situation, and to share their sustainable production practices with Chinese customers to enable them to make earlier and better decisions on purchasing new crop from the U.S.

Perry Ostmo, North Dakota soybean grower, and Seth Naeve, USSEC consultant and professor at the University of Minnesota, also spoke during the conference. Grower leaders and speakers answered questions and made comments during the Q&A session.
Toward the end of the main session, USSEC Country Director – China Zhang Xiaoping presented an overview of U.S. Soy exports to China in the 2015/16 marketing year. Based on the information, USSEC identified China’s top ten largest and most loyal buyers of U.S. soybeans. The grower leaders awarded the winners prizes which symbolized their commitment to the “tailored market and technical services” from the U.S. Soy industry.
On the same afternoon, a closed-door panel discussion was arranged for the top ten largest and most loyal buyers, in collaboration with USSEC member companies, to promote trade relations between U.S. Soy exporters and importers. These top buyers represent approximately 80 percent of the total volume of China’s imported soy from the U.S., and strengthened business relations with them will help maintain and expand demand. About 40 attendees joined the panel discussion, including Yihai Kerry, Jiusan, Bohi, COFCO, Xiangchi, Sanwei, Sunrise, Hope Full, China Sea, Bunge China, Cargill China, and USSEC member companies including ADM, Bunge, Cargill, CHS, CME, Lansing and Scoular.
During the panel discussion, USSEC member exporters and buyers had open exchanges on their concerns and perspectives of the soy market, covering topics including the U.S. Soy advantage in amino acid profile, sustainability, quality concerns on the current U.S. crop in terms of protein, oil, biotech approval delays, and its potential threat to soybean trade.
2016 marks the eighteenth anniversary of this event hosted by the U.S. Soy in China. The event has been regarded as a branding program of U.S. Soy, and Chinese customers highly value this opportunity to network and interact with U.S. grower leaders and market specialists to acquire information on the U.S. Soy crop quality, market situation, and price trends. Some buyers inquired about this event six months in advance, and all the top buyers have shown a high level of sensitivity to their yearly ranking. According to the post-conference evaluation, 100 percent of the participants agree that the U.S. Soy Sustainability Assurance Protocol (SSAP) will meet the needs of their company or partners in achieving future sustainability goals.
On November 13, the grower leaders and the USSEC consultant paid a visit to a key feed and integrator located near Shanghai city, which produces 200,000 metric tons of feed and 400,000 heads of hogs a year, and they target to produce one million heads of hogs by the year 2019.