Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and partners from the U.S. state of Ohio have signed a memorandum of understanding on soybean cooperation, aiming to expand trade, secure feed supply chains, and promote technology transfer, Deputy Minister Hoang Trung said at a meeting on March 27.
On March 27, Deputy Minister Hoang Trung received Brian Baldridge, Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, and Jerry Bambauer, Chairman of the Ohio Soybean Council (OSC), along with their delegation.
Soybean MoU underpins expanding bilateral trade
Providing an update on agricultural trade, the Deputy Minister said Viet Nam–U.S. cooperation has recorded clear growth following a working visit by the Minister of Agriculture and Environment to the United States in May 2025. A series of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and contracts for importing raw materials for domestic production were signed, helping raise Viet Nam’s imports of agro-forestry-fishery products from the United States to $3.72 billion in 2025, up 27% year-on-year. Strong growth was seen in several categories, including seafood, fruits and vegetables, wheat, and timber.
In 2025, Viet Nam imported $517 million worth of soybeans from the United States, accounting for 43% of total soybean imports and marking an 11.7% increase compared to 2024. Viet Nam is currently the fifth-largest export market for Ohio soybeans. The Deputy Minister expressed expectations that cooperation agreements signed and to be signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the Ohio Soybean Council would continue to drive higher soybean exports in the coming period.
According to Deputy Minister Hoang Trung, the key foundation of bilateral agricultural trade lies in the complementary nature of the two sides’ product structures. Viet Nam has strengths in tropical agricultural products and processed goods such as coffee, cashew nuts, pepper, fruit, and wooden furniture, while the United States—particularly Ohio—has advantages in temperate products such as soybeans, corn, beef, dairy products, and timber. These differences reduce direct competition and instead create significant room for cooperation to meet diverse market and consumer demand.
With more than 30 years of cooperation in the soybean sector, Viet Nam is identified as a key market for Ohio. Jerry Bambauer said the state benefits from favorable natural conditions that enable the production of high-quality, protein-rich soybeans for both food use and animal feed production. Post-harvest products are processed into soybean oil and soybean meal, key inputs in agricultural supply chains.
Ohio is stepping up investment in processing, with several large-scale soybean crushing plants under development and plans to bring the total number to four in the near future, strengthening its role as a stable supplier to international markets. Soybean acreage is also expanding, including non-GMO varieties to meet increasingly diverse market demand.
The state’s logistics advantage is another strength, accounting for roughly a quarter of U.S. containerized cargo, facilitating access to international markets, including Viet Nam. Brian Baldridge affirmed that with more than 74,000 farms in operation, Ohio has sufficient capacity to ensure a stable, high-quality supply for Viet Nam amid rising demand for feed ingredients.
The signing of the MoU with the Ohio Soybean Council was described by the Deputy Minister as a key foundation for promoting trade cooperation in feed inputs for the livestock sector.
Based on MoUs signed during an earlier visit to Ohio, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is continuing to advance cooperation and strengthen coordination among industry associations and businesses to expand imports of U.S. soybeans in the coming period.
Viet Nam, Ohio explore broader agricultural cooperation
From a long-term perspective, Deputy Minister Hoang Trung said both sides could leverage their respective strengths to expand cooperation beyond trade into higher value-added areas. Viet Nam could boost exports of high-quality agricultural products to the Ohio market while increasing imports of raw materials for domestic production. There is also scope for cooperation in the timber sector, focusing on legal and sustainable sourcing and higher value-added processing.
Cooperation in science, technology, and training is seen as a particularly promising area. Ohio has extensive experience in applying advanced technologies in agriculture, including artificial intelligence, big data, sensors, and unmanned aerial vehicles. Viet Nam aims to gradually access, pilot, and scale up smart agriculture models in key production regions.
The Deputy Minister proposed establishing linkages between Vietnamese agricultural universities and Ohio-based institutions such as Ohio State University to implement training programs, exchanges of students, researchers, and lecturers, as well as joint research projects on sustainable agriculture, biotechnology, biological plant protection, and natural resource management.
Reaffirming the significant potential for cooperation, Deputy Minister Hoang Trung expressed confidence that, with established foundations and clear directions, ties between Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the state of Ohio will continue to develop in a substantive and effective manner, contributing to agricultural trade growth and the modernization of agriculture on both sides.
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