USSEC Launches Development of U.S.-China Soy Value Chain Innovation Center

The soy industry plays a key role in trade relations between China and the United States. To deepen cooperation throughout the supply chain, USSEC is developing the U.S.-China Soy Value Chain Innovation Center, or SIC, in Henan, a province in Central China, with soy checkoff support. A hybrid Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony was held on February 28, 2023, to mark this milestone.

“This MOU represents a remarkable and unprecedented success in deepening agricultural cooperation between the U.S. and China,” says Xiaoping Zhang, USSEC regional director for the Greater China region. “The SIC builds on the continuous efforts and contributions of U.S. Soy over the past four decades.”

The Foreign Affairs Office of Henan Province, the Shangqiu municipal government, Henan University of Technology and USSEC signed the MOU. It represents their commitments to leverage their strengths, expertise and resources to launch the SIC.

“The SIC brings together diverse stakeholders, further strengthening the relationships and partnerships that U.S. Soy has been nurturing for years,” Zhang explains. “During the signing ceremony, Chinese government leaders expressed expectations that the SIC will contribute to trade relations.”

The new SIC will strive to enhance cooperation and promote high-quality industrial development via continuous innovation. It also will provide soy industry-oriented training curriculum in partnership with China’s livestock, poultry, aquaculture, animal feed production, soy protein and oil application and soy trade sectors to encourage innovation throughout the supply chain. Technical training and services will elevate the competitive advantages and value propositions of U.S. Soy.

The SIC will be located in China’s Henan province, a prominent livestock production region with an annual soy processing capacity of 3.8 million metric tons. The SIC here could become a model to provide similar technical training and support in other provinces critical to the soy value chain.

“Our goal is that the SIC will amplify the advantages of U.S. Soy as curriculum explores intrinsic and extrinsic value of soy products,” Zhang says. “At the same time, it could serve as a strong ballast for long-term trade relations between the U.S. and China, sparking breakthroughs in cooperation and marketing.”

Caption: Government, academic and USSEC representatives participated in the signing
ceremony for a Memorandum of Understanding to launch the U.S.-China Soy Value Chain
Innovation Center, or SIC, held in Zhengzhou City in the Henan province of China and St. Louis,
Missouri.

This story was partially funded by U.S. Soy farmers, their checkoff and the soy value chain.