Last week, the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) and the United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP) joined for a promotional mission to China to capitalize on demand for sorghum and present results of a university study on U.S. sorghum’s quality to potential importers.
Sorghum is the primary ingredient in baijiu, the world’s most popular distilled spirit that is widely enjoyed in China. To increase U.S. sorghum exports to the country and help it meet demand for baijiu, the Council commissioned a report from Jiangnan University on the effectiveness of using U.S. sorghum in baijiu production.
“The encouraging findings of this study will be used in Council programs to assure Chinese buyers that U.S. sorghum is a high-quality and abundant resource that will excite producers and consumers alike,” said Manuel Sanchez, USGC director in China. “China is already U.S. agriculture’s largest market, but there is room for even higher sales due to the massive demand for sorghum here.”
Sanchez and USGC Program Manager Ellie Yan welcomed USCP Director Macy Mueller, USCP Past Chairman and USGC Asia Advisory Team (A-Team) Lead Adam Schindler and Cargill Sorghum Line Product Manager Kyle Hedrick to Guangzhou, China on June 2 to begin a busy week of meetings and presentations to interested buyers.
Over the next several days, the group visited U.S. Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) staff in Guangzhou and Beijing to coordinate strategies to further increase U.S. market share in the country and met with several major grain import companies to present the results of the study and open channels for future U.S. exports.
The team traveled to Shandong Province, the largest compound feed producing region in China, for the fourth annual U.S.-China Agriculture Roundtable on June 7. The Council signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Shandong Provincial Government, agreeing to continue building bridges between Chinese importers and U.S. producers by collaborating on more promotional events. Schindler also presented on U.S. agriculture’s commitment to sustainable farming practices during the morning’s session.
The agenda concluded with another set of meetings with corn and sorghum processing companies in Shandong to understand what their needs for U.S. products are and how the Council and USCP can facilitate purchases.
“This mission was outstanding because it allowed the Council to meet with so many different stakeholders in the export chain, from its promotional planning partners at ATO offices to importers and end-users,” Sanchez said. “I’m glad to have had representatives from USCP and Cargill with us to provide growing and logistical outlooks to buyers and I know everyone will walk away with a much stronger understanding of what the market’s demand is and how U.S. producers can meet it.”
Read more about the Council’s work in sorghum here.
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.