USB and Bob MetzOfficials recently announced cracked walls could cause the planned April 2016 opening of the new Panama Canal expansion to be delayed, pushing off the benefits it could offer U.S. farmers in shipping their crops to international customers.
When it opens, the soy-checkoff-funded Soy Transportation Coalition estimates that the expanded canal will help increase the amount of soybeans that go through the canal every year from 2.1 billion bushels to 2.6 billion. This will lower freight costs for farmers by an estimated 35 cents per bushel. Soy checkoff farmer-leader Bob Metz from South Dakota explains the benefits of the expansion for soybeans farmers.
“The majority of the beans, especially coming out of the center of the United States, actually goes through the Panama Canal to go to our customers in China and Southeast Asia. And the expansion of the Panama Canal is going to be very important to us as U.S. soybean farmers to be able to use larger boats to haul the soybeans to our number one customer China.”
For more information on the importance of reliable infrastructure to the U.S. soybean industry, visit WWW.UNITEDSOYBEAN.ORG.