Commission gets onboard funding exports project

KSC contributes $25,000 to port expansion for 1 million metric tons of soybean capacity

On Wednesday, September 24, Kansas Soybean commissioners and staff traveled with the Soybean Transportation Coalition to the Port of Houston, where STC presented The Andersons, Inc. with a check for $275,000. The Andersons is in the process of expanding its grain export terminal for the purpose of handling and exporting soybean meal and soybeans from the facility. The project is expected to result in capacity for one million metric tons of soybean meal to be exported through the facility, a volume which Kansas is expected to be a key state in contributing to.

The Kansas Soybean Commission contributed $25,000 to this project, which will support research, analysis, pre-engineering, and other site-development expenses associated with the Port of Houston’s soybean meal export expansion at The Andersons grain terminal.

“We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to work with soybean farmers on this important investment,” says Matt Dvorak, The Andersons Houston Business Manager. “As domestic soybean crush increases, we are identifying new opportunities for the export of soybean meal via our Houston facility. We look forward to working with the Soy Transportation Coalition and the broader soybean farmer community on this project which will help connect U.S. soybean meal with international customers.”

This project has the potential to meaningfully address several major priorities of the broader soybean farmer community. KSC and STC are hopeful that the project will contribute to the following outcomes:

• Enhancing the U.S.’s ability to export soybean meal as crush capacity and demand for oil rises
• Increasing the diversity of the supply chain, as soybean meal shipped to this facility will be transported by rail rather than the inland waterway system. This is significant given continued challenges with low water conditions on the Mississippi River
• Building opportunities with secondary markets for soybean meal and soybeans, even as we continue to pursue primary markets like China. The identified markets for the Houston export terminal are: Middle East/Africa (Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, UAE, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, et al), the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia “when market requires”

“We see this project as essential to marketing Kansas soybeans,” says Kaleb Little, KSC administrator. “One-half of the U.S. soybean crop is exported, and we can only do that through the best rail, river and port infrastructure. This investment in the Port of Houston is an investment in those international markets.”