COLOMBO : Sri Lanka, 2025’s largest market in the world for containerised US soybean meal, had its poultry sector honoured on the global stage recently, with several of the country’s leading poultry producers and feed millers recognised among global sustainability leaders for their use of the Sustainable U.S. Soy and Fed with Sustainable U.S. Soy labels, at Soy Connext 2026, the flagship summit of the US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) in Chicago.
The recognition came during a dedicated sustainability session at Soy Connext, which brought together a record 800-plus delegates from around the world, the largest turnout in the event’s history. Sri Lanka’s poultry champions stood alongside honourees from the Americas, Greater China, and Southeast Asia, marking one of the strongest showings yet for South Asia at the event. Mark and Comm, the Colombo-based PR and communications agency, having worked closely with USSEC on Sri Lanka’s soy sector messaging, attended the summit as a media delegate and was present for the recognition.
The three day summit, held August 5 to 7 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, opened with the Trade Team Invitational, a series of one on one meetings pairing international buyers with US exporters, before moving into a full agenda of keynotes and breakout sessions on global market dynamics, sustainability, and supply chain resilience.
USSEC CEO Jim Sutter opened the summit by framing the moment as part of a much longer arc. Independent forecasters project global import demand for soy climbing from 247 million metric tons today to 319 million metric tons by 2034, driven by GDP and population growth concentrated in exactly the regions, South Asia among them, with the most room to add protein to their diets. “This isn’t a shrinking pie, it’s a bigger one,” Sutter told the room, “and US Soy is built to lead it.”
For Sri Lanka, that demand story has a distinctly local chapter. Sixteen Sri Lankan poultry producers and feed millers currently hold licenses to carry the Sustainable U.S. Soy and Fed with Sustainable U.S. Soy labels, verified under the U.S. Soy Sustainability Assurance Protocol (SSAP), putting Sri Lanka firmly among the countries leading adoption of the label in Asia. New Anthoney’s Farms was the first company in the South Asia region to secure the license, back in 2023, and has since become something of a reference point for USSEC when it talks about what sustainable sourcing looks like in practice.
Sri Lankan representatives also joined one of the summit’s sustainability panels, where the message was that sustainability and profitability are not competing goals. Producers spoke of the gains that come from adopting sustainable sourcing practices, and of the Sustainable US Soy logo as a way to showcase that commitment directly to consumers, a visible marker of their dedication to climate action, high-quality nutrition, and protein rich feed sourcing.
The recognition builds on a year of accelerating institutional ties between Sri Lanka and USSEC. In May, the Sri Lanka Association of Animal Nutrition, known as SLAAN, was formally launched in Kandy in partnership with USSEC, giving the country’s nutritionists and feed scientists their first dedicated professional body.
The country remains the largest containerised buyer of US soybean meal in the world, importing roughly 255,000 tonnes in 2025, feeding an animal feed industry that now produces close to 1.3 million metric tons annually with poultry as its largest customer.
As Soy Connext 2026 closes, Sri Lanka’s delegation returns home with more than a trade relationship, USSEC officials say, but a sustainability partnership now ppvisible on the global stage.
