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Southeast Asia Grain Buyers’ Visit to U.S. Focuses on DDGS, Corn
US - Growing individual purchasing power in Southeast Asia has helped jumpstart the region’s importation of US grains over the last three to four years, according to US Grains Council Regional Director in Southeast Asia Adel Yusupov.The region has steadily relied on container shipments of corn and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) to supply its feed needs.
“People’s desire to diversify their diets to include more meat has generated imports of corn and increased sales of US DDGS, which is primarily used in the region’s poultry and swine industries,” he said.
To ensure the momentum continues, this week the US Grains Council is hosting a Southeast Asia grain marketing team which includes purchasers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.
While in the United States the group, accompanied by Mr Yusupov, is traveling to Illinois and Seattle to observe the US corn supply chain starting from the farm, continuing onto the ethanol plant and finally ending at the seaport.
A portion of their travels, which began 4 October and concludes 11 October, have included a visit to the Jim Robbins Farm in Peotone, Illinois.
Mr Robbins, who is with Council member Illinois Corn Marketing Board, said the visit helped reassure the buyers about the United States’ supply reliability as well as US product quality and consistency.
“They had a lot of good questions and being actual buyers, they seemed very interested in seeing where it all gets started,” he said. The team also met with Council member The Scoular Company where they visited the company’s container loading facilities in Channahon, Ill. Because corn sales in Southeast Asia follow the ups and downs of grain market prices, having the chance to see U.S. corn throughout the supply chain was vital for the group as it kept the buyers updated on the supply situation.
US DDGS sales to Southeast Asia have increased significantly over the past few years, growing from 25,000 tonnes in 2004 to 300,000 tonnes in 2007. As of July this year, the region has imported 13 percent of the United States’ total DDGS exports with Thailand alone purchasing more DDGS in the first six months of this year than the amount it imported during all of 2007.
“All team members are current users and buyers of U.S. DDGS,” Mr Yusupov said.
“Exposing them to the production and transportation side of the supply chain will help them better understand DDGS production, product quality and quality control by the producers and exporters.”
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