News

Corn, soy, pork leaders discuss trade

Commodity group leaders are pleased with recent trade progress and hopeful that more trade deals can be made. 

Paul Burke with the U.S. Soybean Export Council says they see market opportunities in new places, saying India remains a challenge, but neighboring countries Pakistan and Bangladesh are getting fewer soybeans from India and more from the U.S. “In Pakistan and Bangladesh, two neighboring countries to India, our reception has been very good. My CEO Jim Sutter was just in Bangladesh last week and they reported that they were going to be increasing more soybean purchases.”

Maria Zieba with the National Pork Producers Council says negotiations are happening today to improve trade with the European Union, but that won’t be easy. “The Europeans do not want to include agriculture. Off the top of my head, I could probably name about a dozen issues that the pork industry alone has on market access into the European Union.”

Burke, Zieba, and Ryan LeGrand from the U.S. Grains Council participated in an export panel discussion at the Wisconsin Corn-Soy-Pork Expo in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin Thursday.