Greek customers return to US soy

(Posted on 26/02/19)

While Greek livestock and feed markets are developing slowly, specific segments, notably poultry and aqua production, are set to see major progress. Although the country is not the largest market, Greece’s aqua, poultry, and feed sectors are hungry for high quality protein ingredients especially because of the shortages and prohibitive price of fishmeal today. For the past several years, Greek nutritionists have searched for solutions to substitute for the expensive fishmeal in the Mediterranean fish species diets.

In an effort to increase awareness of U.S. Soy’s nutritional attributes and benefits, USSEC has implemented a series of industry surveys and technical meetings to disseminate information and educate the local industry on U.S. Soy and its derivatives, advantages, and values for the past two years.

The Greek aqua industry was targeted first due to its importance, but the growing and sophisticated poultry industry was also approached during USSEC consultants’ visits. During meetings and at the recent conference organized in Athens, Greece, the greatest interest was demonstrated by end users, poultry integrations, aqua and swine feed mills, and farms attending the event, representing over 90 percent of the poultry industry and 100 percent of the sea bream and sea bass production in the country. The success of recent USSEC activities is encouraging and proves the strengths of promoting U.S. Soy through education and sharing knowledge with nutritionists and feed industry experts in Greece.

In response to USSEC’s efforts, the first U.S. soy imports arrived in Greece quickly after this year’s harvest, clearly demonstrating an appreciation of USSEC’s activities and the potential to build the market for U.S. Soy in the near future. The Greek aqua industry is poised to grow and there is a significant near future opportunity for soy, in addition to the current use. Opportunities are multiple because Greece’s poultry industry is developing as well.