The council is expecting that soybean exports will grow at least 2 percent to 2.35 million tons in 2019, from the 2.3 million tons recorded during the January to August period of this year.

USSEC Southeast Asia regional director Timothy Loh told reporters during a lunch meeting in Jakarta recently that his organization would maintain the growth, which was in line with previous years, by continuing its programs to increase domestic consumption of soybean products.

“It’s a simple equation: if we grow the market here, we grow our exports,” he said.

In Indonesia, the US’ fourth-largest soybean market, the most popular soybean-derived product is tofu and tempeh (fermented soybean cake) that together consume up to 88 percent of the annual soybean stock.

Supporting tempeh consumption, the council launched its RumahTempe program aimed at increasing the appeal of tempeh among the country’s emerging middle-class youth by modernizing production and packaging among household producers.

The program trains small-scale backyard tempeh producers to improve hygiene, increase production efficiency and experiment with, among other things, vacuum packaging, condiments and a MyTempe website to locate the producers.

Association of Tempeh and Tofu Producers (KOPTI) chairman Aip Syarifuddin expressed similar optimism for soybean import growth because tempeh and tofu consumption would likely continue to grow next year.

He explained that tempeh and tofu producers purchased imported soybeans because local harvests were insufficient and had a lower production yield even if locally produced soybeans were more fragrant, tastier and had a higher protein content.

“It’s God’s will over nature. The US’ geography allows it to produce more soybeans than Indonesia,” said Aip.

KOPTI previously calculated that Indonesia only harvested 25 percent of the soybeans needed to produce tempeh and tofu each year and that US soybeans produced 20 percent more tempeh and tofu per kilogram compared to local soybeans.

Nevertheless, Aip assured that his organization would not allow US soybeans to encroach on local soybean farmers as it would disturb the “equilibrium” of imported and local soybeans.

“Remember that it’s us who does the buying in the end,” he said.

KOPTI’s optimism for import growth comes after China, the US’ largest importer for soybeans, resumed purchase of the commodity last week after having sanctioned it earlier this year as part of the US-China trade war.

Even though China only imported 1.13 million tons of US soybeans, which is less than the usual 35 million tons imported annually, the move signaled that the ban has been lifted.

The sanction raised concern over price and supply instability in the domestic soybean-related industry, which sources 90 percent of imported soybeans from the US, as World Bank data show that US soybean prices steadily decreased from US$430 per metric ton in May to $374 in November.

The sanction also incentivized American soybean farmers such as Andy Fabin to store most of his produce at his farm in Pennsylvania instead of selling it until prices become more favorable.

“Soybean is quite a stable product so it can be stored for several years under the right moisture levels,” he said at the meeting.

Yusan, chairman of the Indonesian Soybean Association (Akindo), expressed confidence that China would gradually resume its regular purchasing of US soybean next year, so that the price and supply would be stable next year. (nor)

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