The United Soybean Board (USB) and soybean checkoff's new fiscal year started last month, and once again efforts to expand international demand for U.S. soy will command the greatest share of USB dollars.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. soy is one of the largest agricultural exports, with international buyers purchasing 1.5 billion bushels of whole U.S. soybeans in the latest marketing year.

"Increasing demand for U.S. soy abroad has been the cornerstone of the soybean-checkoff-funded marketing efforts for the past 20 years," says Jim Call, a soybean farmer from Madison, Minn. Call also chairs the United Soybean Board (USB) International Marketing program.

"The soybean checkoff helps fund market-building activities like hosting international buying teams and conducting poultry and livestock feeding demonstrations abroad that prove the advantages of using U.S. soy," Call says.

Additional key soybean export figures for the 2010-2011 marketing year:

• U.S. soybean farmers helped export more than 1.5 billion bushels of whole soybeans.

• Soybean meal from more than 332 million bushels of soybeans was exported.

• Oil from approximately 290 million bushels of soybeans went to foreign customers.

Soy users in China weighed in as the top international customers of whole U.S. soybeans, buying 895 million bushels, up from 825 million bushels during the 2010-2011 marketing year.

Other top importing markets for whole U.S. soybeans in the last marketing year include the following:

• Mexico - 124.3 million bushels
• Japan - 75.2 million bushels
• Indonesia - 71.03 million bushels
• Taiwan - 55.9 million bushels
• Germany - 36.3 million bushels
• Spain - 28.6 million bushels
• Egypt - 27.8 million bushels
• South Korea - 26.3 million bushels
• Thailand - 18.6 million bushels

American Soybean Association (ASA)

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