The Andersons, Inc. recently announced it has signed a long-term lease for its operations at Port Houston and will be expanding the facility to enable the export of soybean meal and other agricultural products.
The Soy Transportation Coalition, comprised of 14 state soybean boards, the American Soybean Association and the United Soybean Board, announced its collaboration with The Andersons on this investment by providing $275,000 to be utilized for pre-engineering, design, analysis and research costs associated with the project.
With a current storage capacity of 6.3 million bushels, The Andersons export terminal at Port Houston supports the annual export of more than 2 million metric tons of grain. Once completed, the expansion will result in 22,000 metric tons of storage capacity for soybean meal.
The Andersons, Inc., is a diversified company rooted in agriculture that conducts business in the commodity merchandising, renewables and nutrient and industrial sectors.
The United Soybean Board, Iowa Soybean Association, Kansas Soybean Commission, Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council and Nebraska Soybean Board all participate in the Soy Transportation Coalition.
“The farmer directors of the Soy Transportation Coalition appreciate The Andersons for this significant investment in the soybean industry,” said Mike Koehne, a soybean farmer from Greensburg, Indiana, and current chairman of the Soy Transportation Coalition. “This project addresses many priorities of soybean farmer leaders as we explore opportunities to remain profitable in the future. We are pleased to contribute funding toward the pre-engineering, design, analysis and research costs to help move this project forward.”
The project has the potential of meaningfully addressing several major priorities of the soybean grower community, said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition—especially the need to enhance export options for soymeal.
“With all the current and expected investments in soybean processing infrastructure in the U.S. largely for the purpose of producing soybean oil for the renewable fuels industry, expanding export infrastructure for soymeal is imperative,” he said.
Steenhoek added that over the past several years, low water conditions on the Mississippi River have impeded the ability to transport soybeans via barge to export terminals near the Gulf of Mexico.
“While the Mississippi River will always remain a key link in the soybean supply chain, it is essential to increase the resilience of the transportation system by diversifying the supply chain,” Steenhoek said. “One axiom regarding supply chains is the importance of ‘spreading eggs across more baskets.’” The soymeal that will be shipped to the facility at Port Houston will be transported via rail rather than the inland waterway system.
While large “home run” markets like China remain of great importance to the soybean industry, Steenhoek said, it remains imperative to pursue “base hit” marketing opportunities for soymeal and soybeans. The Andersons’ Houston terminal will expand opportunities to reach markets in the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.
“We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to work with soybean farmers on this important investment,” said Matt Dvorak, Houston business manager at The Andersons. “As domestic soybean crush increases, we are identifying new opportunities for the export of soybean meal via our Houston facility. We look forward to working with the Soy Transportation Coalition and the broader soybean farmer community on this project, which will help connect U.S. soybean meal with international customers.”
“The farmer leaders of the Soy Transportation Coalition gravitated toward this project due to the potential for increasing marketing opportunities for soybean meal while simultaneously increasing the resiliency of our supply chain,” Steenhoek said. “This is another example of soybean farmers making strategic investments in our supply chain, which will provide tangible benefit to the industry. It is a pleasure to work together with a forward-thinking company like The Andersons on such an important project.”
The Andersons, Inc., was named in 2024 to the Forbes list of America’s Most Successful Small Companies, Newsweek’s list of America’s Most Responsible Companies and as one of The Americas’ Fastest Growing Companies by the Financial Times.
