Key customers from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt in the Middle East/North Africa region took part in a three-hour USSEC webinar for individual traders on December 17 to discuss the market situation and supply and demand forecasts.

Emily French, founder at Global Ag Protein, presented “Market Outlook and Strategies to Position.”

French says the discussion was “robust and free flowing,” calling it a back and forth over basically every facet of the market. Topics ranged from the quality of U.S. soybeans being crushed for soymeal; crush margins and the profitability of the animal sector; China soybean import demand and its domestic soymeal use versus rebuild of the swine herd (and the potential impact on swine meat exporting nations that have benefited from African Swine Fever (ASF) in China over the past 18 months); consumer demands / shifts as the COVID economy continues and looks to extend through CY2022; vegetable oil demand and food security (particularly in Egypt); Argentina soy crush rates after the strike in December and what that would look like going forward as rains stabilize the crop there; exchange rates and the challenges of inflation; and what the 2021-22 planting landscape may look like for both the U.S. and South America. Each attending member received GAP research for a period of three weeks as a follow-up to the webinar and participation in the webinar, according to French.