Correction:  An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to the United Soybean Board (USB)’s humanitarian project as a “soymilk donation program.” 
USSEC supported USB's efforts to work with the Philippine Red Cross and Caritas Philippines, Inc., a Catholic NGO, to provide soymilk to survivors of 2013’s Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippine islands of Leyte and Samar.
USSEC used its established relationships to reach across nations to follow through with USB’s humanitarian project.  Two companies, Thailand’s Greenspot and Asia Brewery, Inc. (ABI) in the Philippines, generously committed to helping the U.S. Soy industry with this philanthropic project.
This mission, which will run between January and March of this year, will deliver thousands of cases of soymilk to Haiyan survivors.  Haiyan, which struck the Philippines in November 2013, was the strongest recorded typhoon in Philippine history, killing at least 6300 people in that country alone and leaving thousands homeless.
Checkoff funding provided the current customer base in the Philippines the ability to supply soyfood products for direct distribution to citizens impacted by Haiyan.  Because USSEC has established relationships with the country’s soybean industry, USSEC-Philippines was asked to facilitate identifying current small business Philippine soy industry food processers, suppliers and distributors that purchase U.S. soybean, meal and oil, and had the most efficient location and distribution network to deliver to those in greatest need.
In order to comply with the requirements of the Act, Order and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines, companies utilizing the reimbursement program were required to be existing customers, verify purchase history of U.S. soybeans and request prior approval from USSEC.
Last year, the U.S. exported the equivalent of 1,117 million bushels of whole soybeans and 41,465 million bushels of soybean meal to the Philippines.  U.S. agricultural exports remain a key component of the U.S. – Philippines trading relationship, accounting for $7 billion in the 2013 market year.  The relationship has grown into a productive partnership where the U.S. maintains more than a 60 percent market share of Philippine soybean imports.  The Philippines is the sixth largest importer of U.S. soybean meal.
This project helps to ensure the economic vitality of small Philippine business owners that may be struggling during a challenging economic time, increase the value of the U.S. – Philippine relationship, increase demand for U.S. Soy through the Philippines’s value chain, and create possible new markets due to the introduction of different soyfoods to customers.