U.S. sets record for soy exports four years in a row

ST. LOUIS — According to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. soy exports set a record for the fourth year in a row with exports of 1.9 billion bushels for the last marketing year.

Soybean-checkoff funded international sales efforts helped to achieve these record-setting export numbers. The United Soybean Board continues to devote the largest percentage of its budget toward increasing U.S. soy sales abroad.

U.S. soybean farmers shipped out more than 1.45 billion bushels of whole soybeans, up from the 1.24 billion bushels exported last year.

Also, increasing in the 2009/2010 marketing year were exports of soybean meal totaling 428 million bushels. Soybean oil weighed in at 1.4 million metric tons.

Reason

The USDA credited strong early season sales and a projected increase in global import demand — especially for China, which imported 825 million bushels — for the continued success of U.S. soy exports.

Meanwhile, the U.S. soy sector started the new export marketing year with a considerable amount of soybean export commitments on the books. USDA reported that, as of Sept. 1, international customers had committed to more than 540 million bushels for the new marketing year.

In addition, there were over 82 million bushels of soybeans sold in the 2009/10 marketing year that were expected to be carried over to 2010/11.

Top importers

China remained the leading buyer of U.S. soybeans with known commitments of over 330 million bushels as of Sept. 1. Other top importing markets for the 2010 marketing year included:

Mexico – 120 million bushels

Japan – 86 million bushels

Taiwan – 57 million bushels

Indonesia – 53 million bushels

Egypt – 35 million bushels

Turkey – 32 million bushels

Netherlands – 29 million bushels

Korea – 25 million bushels

The checkoff supports programs that increase U.S. soy exports such as hosting foreign buying teams to the U.S. and conducting poultry and livestock feeding demonstrations abroad that prove the advantages of using U.S. soy.

Also, USB farmer-leaders meet with foreign customers, agricultural associations and government officials to inform them about the quantity, quality and nutritional benefits of U.S. soy.