North Carolina · Vietnam · Philippines

Intelligence

Understand demand, find buyers and compare what a better sale could mean for the farmer.

Where could a better sale come from?

Compare domestic and export routes, then follow demand back to North Carolina. A preference for quality only benefits growers when purchasing terms pass that value through.

Reviewed October 21, 2026. New purchase offers and quality premiums still need confirmation.

North Carolina and the Southeast

Local bean sales and regional processing

NC State and NCSPA already provide a map of soybean buying locations. It is a starting point for finding nearby buyers and comparing hauling distances.

Possible route: Grower → grain purchaser or processor → feed or other end use

What needs to be established

Will an accessible purchaser pay more for quality, reduce discounts or offer better terms after testing and handling costs?

NC State Extension buyer map · updated August 2025 ↗

Vietnam

Whole beans for crushing, plus meal

USDA’s October 2026 update projects higher bean imports as crushing expands, while revising meal imports downward. Bean procurement and meal purchasing need separate interviews.

Possible route: Grower → merchant/exporter → importer or crusher → feed buyer

What needs to be established

Which exporter can source NC beans, meet recurring volume and quality requirements, and offer the grower a competitive price?

USDA FAS · Vietnam update, October 2026 ↗

Philippines

Imported meal; smaller whole-bean channels

USDA reports limited domestic crushing and reliance on imported soybean meal. A feed buyer’s demand for meal therefore needs a processor and exporter connection back to the grower.

Possible route: Grower → processor → meal exporter/importer → feed buyer

What needs to be established

Does a buyer’s preference for quality create additional value that a processor will share with NC bean suppliers?

USDA FAS · Philippines annual report, April 2026 ↗

Trade volumes & shipping routes US exports to Vietnam, regional gateways and the wider import market

US grain and oilseed trade flows to Vietnam

Official US volumes: what is sold and how it leaves the country. Company-level links are on the Map. These figures are country totals, so they show the size of the market, not who supplies whom.

Corn shipped, 2025/26

1.84 Mt

+66% vs 2024/25 · 2026/27 sold so far 40 kt

Soybean, soybean-meal and wheat export sales are still downloading. USDA's public API key allows only a few requests an hour.

Vietnam's imports and the US share, 2025

USDA FAS Vietnam attaché reports, citing Vietnam Customs

Soybeans: US share of 2.61 Mt imported43.5%

Largest supplier: Brazil 45.8% · VM2026-0006

DDGS: US share of 1.50 Mt imported72%

Largest supplier: United States · VM2026-0012

Wheat: US share of 5.50 Mt imported17%

Largest supplier: Australia 26% · VM2026-0012

Corn: US share of 12 Mt imported13%

Largest supplier: Argentina 47% · VM2026-0012

Soybean meal: US share of 5.70 Mt imported14%

Largest supplier: Argentina ~69% · VM2026-0006 / VM2025-0011 · CY2025 total; US share for 2024

Feed demand (animal + aqua), 2025

28.6 Mt

30.5 Mt in 2026

Soybean crush

1.9 Mt (2025)

3.0 Mt in 2026: two new lines, north and south

Soybean imports, Jan–Aug 2026

2.58 Mt (+42% y/y)

Soybean meal imports, Jan–Jul 2026

2.7 Mt (−29% y/y, more local crush)

Which US ports ship grain to Vietnam in containers

USDA AgTransport from PIERS bills of lading · Jan 2024 – Jul 2026

Southeast ports shipped 1.47 Mt of the 4.30 Mt of container grain that left the US for Vietnam (34%). Long Beach is the largest gateway overall. Vietnam takes 38% of all container grain leaving Charleston, mostly DDGS. Most of this grain is loaded into containers inland, often in the Midwest, and railed to the coast. The port is where it leaves the US, not where it was grown.

Southeast ports (GA, SC, NC, VA) Other US ports

By year, all US ports

* 2026 to Jul 2026. Hover a column for the split.

What the Southeast ports ship to Vietnam

Commodity	Charleston	Norfolk	Savannah	Wilmington NC
DDGS	450 kt	208 kt	289 kt	–
Soybeans	75 kt	262 kt	6 kt

Export sales to Vietnam by marketing year

USDA FAS Export Sales Reporting · retrieved 2026-10-10

Shipped volume per marketing year (Sep–Aug for corn and soybeans, Oct–Sep for meal, Jun–May for wheat). The year in progress is lighter. Its dark tick marks total sales so far, including sales not yet shipped. Hover a column for detail.

Corn

Where it is inspected for export

USDA FGIS export inspections, destination Vietnam · 2024–2026

1.28 Mt of the 3.01 Mt of soybeans inspected for Vietnam (42%) left in bulk vessels from the Gulf and the Pacific Northwest. The rest went in containers, mostly loaded inland. Southeast states and ports account for 179 kt, or 5.9%. All of it moved in containers.

Bulk vessel Container

Soybeans

Corn

Wheat

Where the bulk ships unloaded in Vietnam

FGIS vessel names matched to Quang Ninh port-authority plans and AIS

USDA certificates name 93 bulk vessel loads for Vietnam since 2024. 24 were traced to Quang Ninh in the north, discharging at Cai Lan berths or Ha Long anchorages. Most were Pacific Northwest corn and wheat. 2 traced to Phu My in the south. The remaining 67, including every Gulf soybean ship, are untraced, probably because southern port-authority data isn't reachable. No source names the buyer.

Vessel	Grain	Loaded (FGIS region)	Tonnes	Arrived
YANGZE 22	Wheat	PNW (Columbia R.), wk 2026-09-17	66 kt	Phu My, 2026-10-11 (medium match)
ONE OCEAN	Wheat	PNW (Columbia R.), wk 2026-09-10	33 kt	Hạ Long anchorage No.2, 2026-10-04
MAJESTIC STAR	Wheat	PNW (Columbia R.), wk 2026-08-06	23 kt	Cái Lân port berth 3, 2026-09-03
Lowlands IYO	Corn	PNW (Puget Sound), wk 2026-07-09	71 kt	Phu My, 2026-08-13 (medium match)
GREEK SEAS	Corn	PNW (Columbia R.), wk 2026-06-25	68 kt	Hòn Miều / Hạ Long anchorages, 2026-07-14
BH POWER	Corn	PNW (Columbia R.), wk 2026-05-07	68 kt	Hạ Long anchorage HL3-3/HL3-4, 2026-06-03
C S OLIVE	Wheat	PNW (Columbia R.), wk 2026-04-30	67 kt	Cái Lân port berth 4, 2026-06-04

The Southeast's share

Inspection state is where a lot was inspected, normally where containers were loaded. It is not always where the grain was grown. "South Atlantic ports" covers lots inspected at the ports themselves. Measured this way the Southeast is small. Measured by port of export (above), its ports carry 34% of container grain to Vietnam, because Midwest containers are railed to Charleston, Norfolk and Savannah.

Soybeans: 179 kt of 3.01 Mt5.9%

SC	70 kt
NC	43 kt
VA	21 kt
GA	686 t
South Atlantic ports	44 kt

Corn: 882 t of 3.18 Mt0%

South Atlantic ports

882 t

Wheat: 3 kt of 1.48 Mt0.2%

VA	3 kt
South Atlantic ports	245 t

Sources: USDA FAS Export Sales Reporting (api.fas.usda.gov/api/esr), destination Vietnam (country code 5520); USDA AMS AgTransport, Containerized Grain data (c353-2zjn), from IHS Markit/PIERS bills of lading (https://agtransport.usda.gov/d/c353-2zjn, retrieved 2026-10-10); USDA AMS FGIS export grain inspection records (fgisonline.ams.usda.gov). Export sales include all US ports. DDGS isn't covered by export-sales reporting or FGIS grain inspection, but is in the container data.

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Quality, sale terms and costs from the farm onward.