Brazilian Soybean Meal Imports Disappointing To U.S. Growers
WASHINGTON, D.C. The
American Soybean Association
(ASA), American Farm Bureau
Federation (AFBF), National
Association of Wheat Growers
(NAWG) and National Corn
Growers Association (NCGA)
have expressed extreme disap
puntment with the decision of
Wilmington Bulk LLC, a con
sortium of large hog and poultry
producing companies, and Louis
Dreyfus Corporation, the trad
ing company involved in the
transaction, to import Brazilian
soybean meal rather than utiliz
ing U.S. product. The shipment
was expected to arrive Aug. 31
at a port facility in Wilmington,
N.C.
“This situation is very frus
trating for U.S. farmers and
ranchers,” stated ASA President
Dwain Ford, a producer from
Kinmundy, 111. “Although, as
businessmen, we understand
that seasonal price spreads be
tween U.S. and Brazilian soy
bean meal, highly competitive
ocean freight rates, and uncom
petitive internal U.S. rail and
shipping rates may have sup
ported the economics to buy
South American soymeal, we
cannot support that decision,
and we need to determine what
can be done to make U.S. prod
ucts more competitive.”
“Unfortunately, this importa
tion isn’t likely to be an isolated
incident,” said Bob Stallman,
president of the American Farm
Bureau Federation. “These
companies didn’t build a new
port for just one shipment.
There will be other shipments of
not only soybean meal, but prob
ably wheat and corn in the
We Now Accept Visa
Lancaster Farming
1 E. Mam St.
Ephrata, Pa 17522
717-394-3047
or Lititz
717-626-1164
FAX 717-733-6058
Mon , Tues , Wed & Fn
8 a.m. to 5 p m
Thurs.
7am to 5 p m.
OFFICE HOURS:
Mon. thru Fri.
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The following categories
• are available for your
classified advertising
In Section C Deadline
Thursday morning at 9
of each week's publication
1 - Farm Equipment
1b - Speciality Farm Eq
2 - Farm Eq Wanted
The following categories
are availabl&for your
classified advertising
in Section D Deadline
Wednesday afternoon at 5
of each week's publication
- Construction Equipment
- Silos and Unloaders
- Building and Supplies
- Gram Equipment
- Dairy Equipment
- Livestock Equipment
- Cattle
- Exotic Animals
- Horses & Mules
- Sheep & Goats
- Swine
- Artificial Breeding
- Hog Eq & Supplies
- Poultry & Supplies
- Rallies
- Feed & Seed
- Fertilizer
- Plants
- Fruits & Vegetables
- Nursery
- Lawn & Garden
- Services Offered
- Custom Work
- Help Wanted
- Situations Wanted
- Business Opportunities
- Household
- Pets
- Lost
- Found
- Computers
- Notice
- Miscellaneous
- Antiques
- Recreational Vehicles
- Autos
- Trucks & Trailers
- Real Estate
future. This affects a much
broader segment of agriculture
than soybeans alone. All produc
ers need to be involved, and we
need to work together to address
domestic transportation prob
lems.”
ASA, AFBF, NAWG, and
NCGA have identified three key
reasons why imported Brazilian
soybean meal may be able to
move into the region at the ex
pense of U.S. soybean meal.
“Our organizations are pursuing
a comprehensive study to look
at each of these factors to deter
mine the best strategies to im
prove the competitiveness of
U.S. farmers,” said Stallman.
1. Insufficient Competitive
Transportation Infrastructure:
Because the Southeastern U.S. is
served by only two major rail
roads that have almost as much
non-agricultural freight as they
can handle, there is not a lot of
competition to carry soybeans
and soybean meal to the South
east. This results in high freight
rates to transport soybeans and
soybean meal to the region. Fur
thermore, Brazilian investments
to expand their inland waterway
system raise the importance for
the United States to modernize
our river systems to ensure com
modities can be transported cost
competitively.
2. The Jones Act: Another
way to transport soybeans and
soymeal to the Southeast from
the Midwest via the Great Lakes
or the Gulf of Mexico would be
on ships. However, the Jones
Act requires that all water trans
portation of goods between U.S.
ports be conducted on U.S. flag
vessels, made in the U.S. and
CLASSIFIED AD ORDER BLANK
k LANCASTER FARMING JH
r^^^RO^Box6°9^ Ephrata, RU7522
NOTE: Please do not use this form for
Mail Box Market Ads, see instructions with Mailbox Markets,
Name
City
Zip
Please publish my ad times
starting with the
DEADLINES:
SECTION D - WEDNESDAY AT 4:00 P.M. SECTION C - THURSDAY AT 9:00 A.M. OF EACH WEEK’S PUBLICATION
' * MINIMUM .
♦ jt “ * X
* * vV , x
■ -,.l
4 Lines 8.40
5 Lines 10.50
6 Lines 12.60.
7 Lines 14.70
8 Lines 16.80
9 Lines 18.90
10 Lines 21.00
Add’t Per Line
$2.10 Each
manned by U.S. seamen. This
makes their cost far higher than
foreign flag vessels.
3. Exchange Rates: American
farmers are the most efficient in
the world. However, the com
parative advantages that our
producers generally enjoy
abundant, fertile natural re
sources, access to high quality
inputs and technology, for ex
ample are mitigated by the
appreciation of the dollar and
the sharp depreciation of cur
rencies among our major com
petitors, particularly Brazil,
Argentina, and Canada. These
relationships in currency ex
change rates over the past few
years have, in many instances,
shut our exports out of foreign
markets and increased import
competition in the U.S. market.
“The first two issues could be
addressed through reforms of
our domestic transportation
system for shipping bulk agri
cultural products,” explained
Ford. “Lowering the costs of
transporting agricultural goods
from the Midwest to the South
east through a Jones Act exemp
tion for bulk agricultural
commodities could also result in
more competitive rail rates.”
There are only seven dry bulk
self-propelled U.S. flagged ves
sels available for bulk agricul
tural shipments, and these
vessels are fully engaged in U.S.
food aid shipments that require
75 percent of the commodities to
be delivered on U.S. bottoms.
The National Association of
Wheat Growers also took notice
of the soybean shipment.
“Wheat growers are strongly
supportive of free trade and
"wST
State
Phone(
issue. Classify under
I enclose
ADS MUST BE RUN 3 TIMES IN A ROW TO RECEIVE ANY PRICE BREAK
IN ORDER TO GET THE CORRECT COST, PLEASE USE ONLY QN£ LETTER
PER SPACE WITH A BLANK SPACE BETWEEN EACH WORD
Master Card
PLEASE WRITE CLEARLY
FAX
717-733-6058
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 7, 2002-D3
open access, whether it is foreign
or domestic markets,” said
NAWG President Gary Broyles
from Montana. “That’s why it is
important to address problems
such as lack of competitive rail
service and the Jones Act, which
in this case are pricing U.S.
products out of our own domes
tic markets. Rumors are circu
lating that the same company is
purchasing European feed
wheat to replace U.S. feed grain.
During the same week this
rumor circulated, U.S. futures
markets dropped significantly.
In the case of the wheat market,
there was a substantial drop,
when prior to this, the market
showed signs of recovery.”
National Corn Growers Asso
ciation (NCGA) President Tim
Hume said, “We spend a lot of
effort trying to get a fair and
level playing field through the
World Trade Organization to
reduce trade barriers. The
United States needs to promote
policies domestically and inter
nationally that will ensure our
producers are not unfairly
priced out of the market. The
crumbling infrastructure on the
Upper Mississippi River System
and the Jones Act are just two
areas in which we need to focus
our efforts to make the United
States more competitive in the
international marketplace.”
ASA President Ford said ASA
has taken action to ensure that
U.S. soybean farmers aren’t
being placed at a competitive
disadvantage in this particular
trade due to the fact that U.S.
farmers pay royalties for soy
bean varieties containing
Roundup Ready® technology
CALL 717-626-1164 TO
ADVERTISE YOUR LINE AD OR
DISPLAY BOX AD IN OUR PAPER
□.Check Enclosed
□ Visa (13 or 16 numbers)
□ Mastercard (16 numbers) (Be sure to include all numbers)
□ Discover (16 numbers)
Card #
Exp. Date:
Box Replies: Ads with answers coming to a box number,
c/o Lancaster Farming: $1.50 per ad per week additional
This newspaper will not be responsible for more than one
incorrect insertion of any advertisement.
while Brazilian farmers are re
ported to have widely pirated
Roundup Ready seeds.
“Ever since this contract was
announced in May, ASA and the
United Soybean Board have
been working closely with Mon
santo, which holds the patents
on the Roundup Ready technol
ogy, to ensure that the imported
soymeal is not derived from pi
rated Roundup Ready soy
beans,” said Ford. “Monsanto
has assured us that it will en
force its intellectual property
rights regarding all importations
of Brazilian soybean meal or
soybeans.”
"ASA suspects that Louis
Dreyfus may have had a hard
time complying with this re
quirement, which has delayed
the shipment and arrival date by
several weeks,” said Ford. “In
the end, we understand that
Dreyfus searched to find some
non-Roundup Ready soybeans
grown under a ‘hard’ identity
preservation system in order to
ship soybean meal that would
test negative. Dreyfus probably
didn’t expect this much trouble
and expense when they made
the deal, but now they are stuck
with trying to fulfill it.”
Due to its large swine and
poultry industries, the Southeast
is a huge consumer of soymeal.
In fact, it is estimated that the
region consumes about 30 per
cent of the 29.5 million metric
tons of soymeal consumed in the
U.S. However, the Southeast is
no longer a larger producer of
soybeans. To meet its high
demand for soymeal, soybeans
must be brought into the region,
either in the form of whole soy
beans for local processing or as
soymeal.
& Discover
m
Signature
2 TIMES
3 LINES
COST
$12.60
Add’t Line
@ 4.20
3 TIMES
3 LINES
COST
$17.73
16.80
23.64
21.00
29.55
25.20
35.46
41.37
29.40
47.28
33.60
37.80
53.19
42.00
59.10
Add’t Line
@ 5.91