USSEC participated in the 55^th European Commodities Exchange in Barcelona, Spain on October 15 and 16. This was USSEC’s first time participating as an exhibitor in this exclusive major grain and oilseed trade event in Europe. Importers, exporters, crushers, feed industry, milling industry, freight companies, and surveyors; basically, all the key players in the European grain and oilseeds industry, attended the event.
For the soy value chain, senior level managers represented all of the major companies, including Bunge, Cargill, ADM, Dreyfus, Nidera, Noble, Glencore, Cefetra, BTG Patual, Gavilon, CHS, CME Group, and FCStone. Nearly 3000 people, mostly from Europe but also from the U.S., Brazil, Argentina, China, Japan, and North Africa, attended as registered visitors.
USSEC’s centrally located booth provided a great opportunity for meeting old and new contacts. More than 400 people, representing the main feed and meat companies in Europe as well as crushers and importers, stopped by the booth to learn about USSEC. The highlight of the visit was the opportunity to meet with two U.S. Soy grower leaders, Belinda Burrier, United Soybean Board (USB) director from Union Bridge, Maryland and Willard Jack, American Soybean Association (ASA) director from Belzoni, Mississippi. Meeting real soybean farmers directly and learning first-hand about American producers’ commitment to growing high quality and sustainably produced soybeans was an invaluable takeaway for everyone who stopped by the exhibit. Brent Babb, USSEC Regional Director – EU/MENA and USSEC regional consultants Eugene Philhower and Lola Herrera also staffed the booth. Albert Roda and his Inspectia team provided important help and support for the entire event.
This show was a great opportunity to talk and share information with the industry about subjects that are important to USSEC stakeholders, including U.S. soybean meal value, sustainability, the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and many other issues. Equally important was the opportunity to learn the issues of interest to USSEC’s customers, consumers and distributors.
USSEC plans on participating next year’s event in Turin, Italy.