USSEC monitored feedback on U.S. soybean meal that arrived in Korea early this year.  Three U.S. soybean meal cargoes, supplied by CHS, Cargill and Al Ghruair arrived in January, February and March, respectively.  The first and third cargoes are being used by nineteen feed mills located near Incheon Port and Ulsan Port.  The second cargo is being used by five feed mills located near Incheon Port and Kunsan Port.

Korea Feed Association (KFA) has completed amino acid analysis on the first cargo.  Analysis on the second and the third cargoes is still underway.  According to KFA, the U.S. soybean meal analyzed contains 43.88% total amino acid, 19.71% essential amino acid, 2.89% Lys, 1.28% Met + Cys and 1.80 Thr with KOH protein solubility of 85.24.  In comparison, Brazilian soybean meals imported by Korea in 2013 contained 43.39% total amino acid, 19.69% essential amino acid, 2.81% Lys, 1.22% Met + Cys and 1.79% Thr with KOH protein solubility of 78.80 on average.
USSEC staff met with the technical staffs of seven feed mills during the reporting period to share the amino acid analysis data for their feed formulations and to promote the concept of linking the digestible amino acid content to the value of soybean meal.