rss feedA tofu recipe to come and $5 million worth of U.S. soybeans heading for South Korea
I’ll post another tofu recipe this week. I’ve been juggling a few things. Before I forget, I wanted to note a recent soybean purchase that will benefit U.S. soybean farmers and South Korean tofu makers.
I know trade relations can be complex and, at times, controversial. But this was nice to see, especially given the recession. Here goes:
Four Midwestern companies from North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin are expected to haul in $5 million after they agreed last week to export about 275,000 bushels of soybeans to South Korea, The Associated Press reported.
The Korean Federation of Soybean-Curd Industry Cooperatives is buying the beans from SB&B Foods of Casselton, N.D., Brushvale Seed of Breckenridge, Minn., SunOpta of Moorhead, Minn. and The DeLong Co. Inc. of Clinton, Wis.
The Korean federation is an umbrella group for 12 tofu-processing companies. The Korean buyers will be receiving “identity-preserved” soybeans, which the AP described as being grown under specific instructions.
They also can be tracked to a specific field and can fetch high prices.
There is an apparent advantage to “identity-preserved” soybeans, according to an article by Erin Hevern of the Daily News in Wahpeton, N.D.
Hevern quotes Brushvale Seed spokesman Paul Holmen, who highlighted a plus for the Korean tofu companies:
They can produce a better quality tofu if the soybeans are of one variety, with special quality characteristics versus buying soybeans that may be a blend of varieties with lower quality characteristics.
Five years ago, I wrote about how China was buying wheat from the Pacific Northwest.
