U.S. soybean exports break record

U.S. soybean exports break record    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service’s final export sales report marketing year 2004-2005 exceeded 29.96 million metric tons, which is equivalent to 1.1 billion bushels.
   This year’s record is more than 3 percent higher than the previous record of 1.06 billion bushels set in 2001.
   This year’s largest buyer of U.S. soybeans was China at 434.4 million bushels, up 44 percent from last year. The European Union was second with 167.9 million bushels, followed by Mexico (127 million bushels), and Japan (114.7 million bushels). Collectively, these four buyers represented 76.8 percent of all U.S. soybean exports last year.
   “Soybeans contribute a great deal to the U.S. balance of trade, because soybean and soy product exports are the highest value U.S. agricultural commodity export with an annual value of nearly $8 billion,” said Bob Metz, president of the American Soybean Association, in a statement Wednesday.
   The American Soybean Association has carried out export promotion programs since 1956. For the current fiscal year, the association received about $13.6 million or 54 percent of its international marketing funds from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service and about $11.5 million from state and national soybean checkoff programs.
   This year the American Soybean Association and the United Soybean Board formed the U.S. Soybean Export Council to implement the international marketing program for U.S. soybeans.