Vietnamese officials visiting Iowa have signed agreements to buy more agricultural products from the Midwest, including Iowa.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the five agreements represent $800 million worth of soybeans, corn, dried distillers grain and pork. “I would definitely categorize it as historic,” Naig said, “and what we need to be seeing even more of.”
The agreements, which are non-binding, were signed yesterday during a ceremony at the Iowa Capitol. Naig led a trade mission to Vietnam in 2023 and plans to return to the country this fall. “We’ve seen Vietnam as an attractive market, a market that’s got a real upside,” Naig said. “It’s a young population. It’s a growing economy.”
Under one of the agreements, Vietnam is to purchase of $400 million in soybeans and soybean meal from AGP, a farmer owned cooperative that has five processing plants in Iowa. “Vietnam has grown to one of the most valued partners,” said Randy Miller, a farmer from Lacona, Iowa, who is a member of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, “and we don’t take that for granted.”
Commodity groups see Vietnam and other Asian countries as opportunities to diversify supply chains, especially with escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
(Reporting by Rachel Cramer, Iowa Public Radio)