To supplement or cross check press reports and commodity information related to each year’s soy supply and demand (S & D), USSEC India conducts periodic field surveys in soy producing regions of India. Data, forecasting and sharing market intelligence with soy users in animal feeds is an important part of trade services that USSEC offers to its customers. On the user end, USSEC uses market differentiation tools to stabilize soy utilization and ward off other competing protein meals. These interventions help sustain and/or bring in incremental soy volumes, year after year. Program strategy in India recognizes that value chain efficiencies are higher when back end soy trade/ S & D work is regularly shared with feed milling clients who are on the user end.
Typically, such surveys are conducted by USSEC’s animal feed/soy meal program consultants at least three times a year to coincide with soy harvests and are carried out at the end of peak soy selling periods (October – January) or after sowing takes place (May, June, July). First hand data obtained from such assessments provides an additional marketing edge and is used to make program plans. Many feed industry clients rely on USSEC’s advice and information because assessments arise from ground data and they trust the authenticity. The data also helps clients plan their stocks and buying.

USSEC India’s Feed Program Consultants Dr. Vijay Anand and Dr. Pawan Kumar visited Indore, a major soy growing province of India to assess current sowing as well as arrivals of last crop soybeans, which are believed to have been stocked by farmers, in the wholesale grain markets. They note that sowing has been successfully completed in most areas due to a good monsoon season but a wait and watch approach has to be adopted to predict the health of the crop as well as weather patterns, until harvest time. They feel that a lot of soybean meal is contained within India due to last year’s low exports and if the current crop brings in more stocks, animal feed utilization is likely to go up due to price reductions. The consultants also believe that prices will probably not touch a significant low so as to compete in the international market. Due to a rather flat soybean meal production trend for the past three years and an array of supply or price anomalies, other countries relying on India have covered their requirements from the U.S and South American sources.