From WATTAgNet:A study has found that some international buyers prefer soy from the United States as opposed to Brazil and Argentina because they can rely on it reaching them in a timely manner.A soy-checkoff-funded study shows foreign soy buyers often pay as much attention to the timeliness of a shipment delivery as they do to the price. Late shipments can be expensive for buyers because they incur costs in trying to find replacement crop, slowing down crush facilities and other problems."Our industry depends on the reliability of our transportation system to keep us competitive in the global market," says Dwain Ford, soybean farmer from Kinmundy, Illinois, and United Soybean Board (USB) International Opportunities Target Area coordinator. "This study really shows the advantage the roads, rails and rivers give us and how important it is to maintain and improve our infrastructure." Conducted in partnership with the checkoff-supported Soy Transportation Coalition, the study gathered input from buyers in China, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam to get firsthand reports on the timeliness of shipments and the repercussions late shipments have on their businesses. In most of these markets, U.S. shipments were the most predictable, with several participants adding that they prefer to buy from the United States because of this predictability.