FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A delegation of South Korean soybean buyers and other officials visited the United States with the goal of learning more about American soybeans and how they’re produced and processed.
While in Indiana, the group of about 15 made several stops, including Sept. 18 tours of Bunge North America’s facility in Decatur and Wyss Farms Enterprises (WFE) in southern Allen County. Earlier in the week, the traveling party attended the U.S. SOY Global Trade Exchange in Milwaukee, Wis. They were scheduled to be in the country Sept. 14-20.
"Our group is seeing that U.S. farmers are very much trying to meet demand (for soybeans) in terms of quantity and in terms of quality," said Say Young Jo, country director, Korea, for the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC). "By conveying this to them, we hope this will lead to their preferences for U.S. soybeans and soybean products."
In 2013, South Korea imported 20 million bushels of U.S. soybeans, which represented 54 percent of its total whole soybean imports, according to information from the Indiana Soybean Alliance. The nation also imported 357 million pounds of U.S. soy meal, about 11 percent of its total soy meal imports.
"We’re promoting the value (of soybeans) to end users and promoting the soybean products produced from U.S. soybeans," he noted.
South Korean producers tend to purchase feed for their poultry and livestock from a mill, unlike many American farmers who might grow their own feed for their animals, he added.
USSEC sponsored the South Korean visit, which was a chance for Don Wyss to renew acquaintances he’d made during a trip to the country in the spring.
"The trade team wanted to make it a point to come by and see our farm," said Wyss, a partner in WFE, his family’s farm, and its chief marketing officer. "We were (in South Korea) to carry the message about U.S. agriculture, and to help them learn more about U.S. soybeans and U.S. soybean products."
During the group’s stop at his family farm, the visitors had the opportunity to tour its soybean fields and hear a presentation on the farm. They were also able to talk with area farmers and see combines and other pieces of agriculture equipment.
"Asian buyers value relationships, faces and friendship and putting faces to a name, and South Korea is no different in that regard," Wyss said. "They prefer U.S. soybeans and U.S. soybean meal and they’re willing to pay a premium for both. They trust us; they trust our products."
South Korea has its own soybean processing facilities, which allow the country to buy the whole soybean and process it themselves, Wyss explained. As long as they are purchasing U.S. soybeans, it doesn’t matter if they’re whole or processed when they leave this country, he added.
"Any visit like this is always a good chance for openness and dialogue," Wyss said. "In the spring when I was in South Korea, they said they were pleased with the quality of U.S. beans. That’s always one of the Asian buyer’s key pieces, and we want to know what else we can be doing."
South Korea is slightly larger than the state of Indiana and has a population of approximately 50 million, whereas the Hoosier State’s population was estimated to be about 6.6 million last year by the U.S. Census Bureau.
