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Soybean exports to Egypt highlight importance of stable global trade for farmers

A director with the United Soybean Board says Egypt continues to be a top destination for U.S. soybeans.

David Wessel, who just returned from a trade mission to the country with the U.S. Soybean Export Council, tells Brownfield, “Egypt is a huge buyer of U.S. soy.”  He says, “They are the number three standalone country, and they prefer our soybeans.  Ninety to 95% of the soybeans that they import in Egypt are U.S. soy.  Every place we went, they love our quality.”

He says Egypt’s growing poultry and aquaculture industries rely on American farmers.

“I was really impressed.”  He says, “Their economy is really booming. The poultry sector, which poultry is one of their higher proteins now, but the aquaculture side has really got a lot of room to grow. But really the growth is Egypt is a hub for all of Africa, sub-Saharan Africa.”

Wessel says a checkoff funded Soy Excellence Center in Cairo has been key to growing the relationship.

“Where we train people about the value and how to use U.S. soy and incorporate it into their rations and into their everyday life.”  He says, “And I believe that SEC right there in Egypt has graduated over 12,000 people through that program in the six years from probably about a 15-country region throughout Northern Africa and Southeast Asia.”

Wessel, who raises row crops and cattle in Cass County, Illinois, says nearly 60% of all U.S. soybeans are exported, so maintaining stable, beneficial trading relationships is vital to U.S. farmers.

AUDIO: David Wessel – Illinois farmer