American Soybean Association (ASA) President Mike Yost and United Soybean Board (USB) International Marketing Committee Chair Doug Magnus, formally opened ASA’s fourteenth international marketing office yesterday in Istanbul, Turkey to increase demand for U.S. soybeans and products in the Middle East. "We will be servicing Turkey, the Turkish Republics and most of the Middle East out of this office," said Yost. "There is a significant market here for soybean meal and whole soybeans, and we hope to eventually establish a strong market for soybean oil as well."

Istanbul, formerly known as Constantinople, was declared to be the new nucleus of the Roman Empire in 324 A.D. by Emperor Constantine because of the city’s strategic importance to trade in the region. According to Magnus, "U.S. soybean farmers are opening an office here in Turkey not just because of the 65 million people that live within Turkey itself, but because Turkey is a regional trading area for about 300 million people. That’s the importance of having an office here, and that’s why soybean leaders decided to invest producer checkoff funds to open this new office and make it a regional trading center for our soybean marketing efforts."

There are opportunities for ASA to build customer relations with technical knowledge and management expertise in the poultry and livestock sectors, at both the feedmiller and producer levels, to optimize usage of high quality U.S. soybean meal. Turkey’s poultry industry is growing at a rate of 10 to 15 percent per year, and is expected to continue to grow at that pace through the year 2002. With proper technical education, ASA’s initial goal is to double the use of soy products in poultry feeds, which will increase demand for soybeans in this market by at least 300,000 metric tons or 11 million bushels.

"We met with local food manufacturers and end-users of soybeans and everyone is eager to know more about U.S. soybeans and to find out how they can incorporate soy into their products. Our presence here is welcomed and everyone has been very cordial," Yost added. Support for this office, and marketing activities within Turkey, is made possible by funding received from the soybean checkoff program. The ribbon cutting ceremony was attended by more than 50 people, including U.S. Consul General Carolyn Huggins and Foreign Agriculture Service Ag Counselor for Turkey Susan Schayes, local government officials, representatives of the Turkish oilseed crushers and poultry industry, U.S. soybean producer leaders and Qualified State Soybean Board directors.

The new ASA office, managed locally by Chris Andrews, ASA/Turkey Country Director, is the Association’s 14th international marketing office, and is located at 92 Spor Caddesi, 85/86 A Blok – BJK Plaza, Besiktas, Istanbul, Turkey, phone 011-90212-258-2800, e-mail candrew@superonline.com .