Utilizing Market Access Program (MAP) funds, the U.S. Grains Council’s Latin American office partnered with one of its members, ADM, to promote distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) usage for poultry, swine and dairy, and beef cattle diets in Central America. From August 14 to September 3, 2020, the Council held a weekly webinar series targeting 260 current and potential DDGS end-users in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Nutritionists with experience formulating or investigating DDGS usage with each species gave presentations explaining DDGS nutritional benefits, recommended inclusion rates, and other relevant technical considerations.
Each day, the webinar series covered the three species in separate sessions (for a total of twelve sessions), offering potential and current DDGS customers the opportunity to interact with the experts and increase their understanding of how to best incorporate DDGS into their feeding strategy. The medium and small-size livestock producers in Central America typically rely on large companies such as ADM to import and supply them with the ingredients. Due to their small size and limited storage facilities, they need to rely on larger importers. Likewise, the large importers need the small importers to request DDGS and to understand how to use it before they increase import levels. This is where the Council comes in, as it bridges the product utilization gap by these small producers and creates a demand-pull for DDGS.
ADM’s country offices reported that during and after the webinars, inquiries for DDGS by invited potential customers increased. The Council estimates that due to these seminars, demand for DDGS imports grew by 7.8 TMT with an export value of $2.1 million across these five countries.
The Council invested $8,670 in Market Access Program (MAP) funds to support the Central American webinar series. The additional exports to these five countries reached 7.8 TMT worth $2.1 million, representing a return on investment (ROI) of $248 per $1 of MAP funds invested. The Council believes that they can create an additional demand for 100 TMT of DDGS demand in Central America in the near future, with an export value of $27 million.
About The U.S. Grains Council
The U.S. Grains Council develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and ethanol. With full-time presence in 28 locations, the Council operates programs in more than 50 countries and the European Union. The Council believes exports are vital to global economic development and to U.S. agriculture’s profitability. Detailed information about the Council and its programs is online at www.grains.org.