$460 million in grain sales reported by Export Exchange attendees

The U.S. Grains Council recently said that overseas grain buyers who attended the Export Exchange conference, hosted this fall by the USGC and Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), were involved in nearly a half billion dollars' worth of grain and ethanol co-product sales.

In total, attendees reported sales of approximately 2.6 million metric tons of grains and co-products worth $460 million traded either at the conference or immediately before or after.

The top grain traded during the two-day conference was corn, with 924,500 metric tons collectively exchanged, followed by distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) with 875,000 metric tons exchanged. This means buyers at the conference struck deals to purchase an amount of DDGS equivalent to roughly 8 percent of last year's total U.S. DDGS exports.

Export Exchange 2016 offered attendees an opportunity to meet and build relationships with domestic suppliers of corn, DDGS, sorghum, barley and other commodities. More than 200 international buyers and end-users of coarse grains and co-products from more than 35 countries were in Detroit for the conference, held Oct. 24 to 26, and for related tours of U.S. farms, ethanol plans and export infrastructure.

"Putting buyers and sellers together, building and sustaining relationships with our top global grain buyers have been hallmarks of council activities worldwide," Tom Sleight, president and CEO of the USGC, said.