US soybean meal imports seen rising 40%

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MANILA, Philippines — Soybean meal imports from the US are expected to jump by 40 percent this year, driven by increased animal feed demand from the country’s poultry sector, according to the US Soybean Export Council.

USSEC executive director for East Asia Carlos Salinas said that better feed formulation demands from the country’s poultry and layer industry would pull more demand for US soybean meal, typically used as a protein component in animal and aquaculture feed.

“We are certainly going to be able to fulfill that, and the Philippines is a priority market for us,” Salinas told reporters.

He said soy exporters could further expand their shipments to the Philippines, amid an ongoing push in biofuel demands in the US.

“We are going to continue that expansion because we’re expanding our capacity, because we need to fulfill all those renewable energy applications for (soybean) oil,” he added.

USSEC reported that the Philippines remains a top export destination for US soybean meal in the past nine years. This was mainly due to the country’s fast growing feed sector.

Total feed use is estimated to grow by 32 percent in 2035, with poultry feed demand expected to rise 37 percent and aquaculture feed by 28 percent.

USSEC CEO Jim Sutter said that as the Philippine demand for soy in animal feeds grows, they would turn to the US for soybean meal.

“We expect that the production will continue to go up year after year. as we crush more soybeans in the US, we expect to have more meal to export,” Sutter added.

The group reported that soybean meal exports to the Philippines reached 2.65 million metric tons in 2025 from 2.52 million MT in 2024.