Last year, the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) was proud to hold a series of conferences bringing together U.S. producers and international grain purchasers and end-users to promote global agricultural trade.
In January, the Council’s Latin American and Mexico offices hosted a regional buyers’ conference in Cancun, Mexico.
With more than 90 buyers in attendance, the conference aimed to create a new space for procurement teams from across the region to exchange experiences and refresh their knowledge of current market conditions. The Council’s 2023/2024 Corn Harvest Quality Report was also presented during the event, with a dynamic producers’ panel composed of Iowa Corn’s Jolene Riessen and Stan Nelson, Kansas Corn Commission’s Griff Howard and Michigan Corn’s Ned Wyse sharing the latest from the field, crop rotations and inventories.
“Your presence is a testament to the importance you place on staying at the forefront of industry developments, and we are honored to facilitate this exchange of knowledge,” said Marri Tejada, USGC Latin America regional director during her opening remarks at the event.
Topics covered at the event included price risk management; U.S. corn quality; freight, rail and sea logistics; production, supply and demand; and new-technology-distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS).
“The Latin American region, including Mexico, benefits tremendously from the regional buyers’ conference, which encourages opportunities for networking and collaboration among the region’s top importers and offers space to establish new business relationships with more than 10 U.S. suppliers in attendance,” said Heidi Bringenberg, USGC director in Mexico.
“In addition to sharing a common language, the region also shares similar challenges and opportunities regarding supply chain consolidation in the hemisphere and growing markets for feed grains with increased competition from South America. Our conference was timely with lots to discuss given the record election years in several of our markets and the year’s first venue to position the U.S. advantages in sustainability, feed conversion, technology and biotech.”
In June, the Council’s regional office for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) held its second Buyers’ and Sellers’ Conference in Mombasa, Kenya to establish commercial connections between U.S. feed grain exporters and African importers.
“Buyers’ and sellers’ conferences are one of the best ways to generate trade relationships and there is very strong interest from the feed grain industry for continuing these events in Africa,” said Ramy Taieb, USGC regional director for EMEA. “Nearly 80 buyers from 14 African countries attended this year to meet with U.S. exporters and learn about crop quality from U.S. farmers, which will result in significant sales.”
Regional importers, feed manufacturers and end users had the chance to learn from U.S. farmers and other industry experts who shared updates on several trade and technical topics including U.S. corn production, advanced storage practices, feed formulations using corn co-products, global freight logistics updates and more.
Stateside, nearly 500 international buyers and end-users of coarse grains and co-products from more than 50 countries gathered in Fort Worth, TX in October for Export Exchange, the Council’s flagship event.
Export Exchange is a major trade conference jointly hosted every other year by the Council, Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA). A post-event survey from the most recent edition showed 968,030 metric tons (MT) of U.S. corn, sorghum and their co-products worth $242 million were sold as a direct result of Export Exchange’s networking opportunities.
Distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) were the most popular commodity, with 472,230 MT purchased by companies during or immediately after the event. Corn was close behind with 363,900 MT traded between attendees and sorghum sales totaled 10,500 MT.
“The sales survey shows why Export Exchange is circled on the calendars of so many agricultural stakeholders as a premier event for networking and the latest updates affecting crop production, international policies and shipping logistics,” said Ryan LeGrand, USGC president and CEO.
“International trade is crucial for producers, buyers and sellers alike, and we’re proud that Export Exchange 2024 brought the industry together to such resounding success.”
To expand on strong exports to South Korea during marketing year (MY) 2023/2024, the Council and Korea Feed Association (KFA) held the 2024/25 Grain Market Outlook and Business Environment Seminar in Seoul in November.
The conference attracted more than 200 industry stakeholders and provided the latest information on global grain markets, the superior quality and availability of U.S. corn and updates on Korea’s livestock policies, foreign currency market developments and ocean freight market changes.
Nebraska Corn Board Market Development Committee Chairman Brandon Hunnicutt and Iowa Corn Growers Association Board Member Steve Kuiper presented virtually about their corn crops and shared insights into their operations to give a firsthand look into the product buyers will receive in the coming months.
“U.S. corn exports to South Korea nearly tripled to 2.4 million tons (94 million bushels) in MY 2023/2024 compared to MY 2022/2023. Competitive pricing and the exceptional quality of U.S. corn are expected to boost those numbers even higher next year with local processing companies already ordering 400,000 tons (16 million bushels) of the recent corn crop,” said Haksoo Kim, USGC director in South Korea.
“This conference was timely for the South Korean industry because it helped buyers and end-users budget and plan for 2025 based on the valuable information they received from speakers and panelists.”