The chief officer of demand for the Iowa Soybean Association says export markets are changing.
Matt Herman tells Brownfield, “We’ve gone from exporting over half the crop as whole beans and now we’re increasingly exporting soybean meal.”
He says whole-soybean exports are down year-over-year.
“Getting that whole-bean export number back up is going to be critical to increasing prices that farmers see.”
Herman says China is the country’s biggest buyer.
“Getting (China) back closer to what they’ve historically purchased around that 25-29 million metric tons each year will be crucial to boosting prices.”
The USDA says soybean exports last week were down on the week, but still above what’s needed to meet projections in the final quarter of their marketing year.
