The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) is reminding farmers to focus on global markets as coarse grain exports face strong competition ahead of corn planting.
“Just 10 years ago, the United States was the leading exporter of coarse grains and accounted for 80 percent of the total corn sold on the market,” USGC Manager of Global Trade Manuel Sanchez said. “Today, however, we have tremendous competition from Brazil, which has updated its infrastructure, and from the Black Sea region, specifically Ukraine. We have to keep supplying our reliable buyers with the high-quality grain they desire.”
The USGC is especially focused this year on bulk commodities and value added products in the feed grains in all forms market. Sanchez and the USGC are also looking toward building demand for co-products like ethanol.
“If you look past the bulk commodities, into feed grains in all forms, which includes ethanol, co-products and value-added exports such as meat and dairy, you will see a place where U.S. exports can compete heavily this year,” Sanchez said. “The council has partnered up with the ethanol industry, and we’re taking great steps to promote ethanol overseas in markets like Mexico, India and China in the coming year. Almost 30 percent of our resources are going to be dedicated this year to the promotion of ethanol exports, as they are a great way to utilize some of the corn stocks we have available.”
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