Information provided by USSEC

ASA Director Kevin Hoyer (second from right) visits Amadori full fat soy plant in Italy.

American Soybean Association (ASA) Director Kevin Hoyer, from Wisconsin, recently joined the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) to meet the largest soy importers in the European market during the European Bourse trade show in Turin, Italy.

Hoyer, along with United Soybean Board (USB) Director Belinda Burrier, from Maryland, joined USSEC Regional Director – EU/MENA Brent Babb and USSEC consultant Lola Herrera, to attend the Bourse and visit Italy’s soy industry facilities.

Prior to the Bourse, the group travelled to northern Italy, visiting the main soy industry companies. In Milan, they visited Cereal Docks, meeting with Giorgio della Bona. Cereal Docks is the main crusher in Italy, crushing 2,000 tons per day of non-GMO beans, from local production and 3,000 tons per day from the U.S. and other origins. Near Milan, the team also met with Veronesi, the largest feed producer in Italy, producing more than three million tons of feed annually for their own use to produce meat, poultry and pork.

Next, the group travelled to the port of Ravenna on the Adriatic Sea to visit the feed and soy full fat plant belonging to Amadori, the second largest company in feed and meat production in Italy. The purchasing and production team provided a tour of the plant, producing 50,000 metric tons (MT) of feed and 10,000 MT of full fat soy monthly. All feed production is used for their own consumption in poultry and livestock, as the company is fully integrated.

During the Bourse, the U.S. soy delegation talked with European soy importers from ADM, Cargill, Bunge and Louis Dreyfus. The feed industry was represented by some of Europe’s largest companies: Sanders from France, Veronesi and Amadori from Italy and DUKA from Germany among others.

The European Bourse is the most important annual meeting for the grains and oilseeds agricultural and trading industry in Europe, with about 3,000 attendees.