Council Chairman, Vice President Meet With U.S. Ambassador, Policymakers In Beijing

U.S. Grains Council (USGC) leaders traveled to Beijing, China earlier this month for a series of high-level meetings including with U.S. and Chinese officials with the goal of continuing to promote healthy agricultural trade relations between the parties.

USGC Chairman Brent Boydston and USGC Vice President Cary Sifferath joined USGC China Director Manuel Sanchez, U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and representatives of the U.S. Soybean Export Council to participate in the U.S.-China Agricultural Trade Cooperation Forum on Nov. 2.

“I’m pleased that the chairman and I had the opportunity to visit this incredibly important market and continue to develop relationships with the importers, end-users and policymakers that help make China a top export market for U.S. sorghum and corn,” Sifferath said. “I’d also like to thank Ambassador Burns and the Council’s other collaborators for making the forum and its associated meetings so successful.”

China is the largest overall export market for U.S. agricultural products with nearly $41 billion worth of business conducted in 2022, which accounts for 20 percent of all U.S. agricultural exports.

Boydston and Burns gave remarks to more than 100 industry leaders in attendance at the forum. The leaders also met with multiple major stakeholders during the forum, including the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

“U.S.-China agricultural trade is the ballast stone of US-China relations,” Boydston said. “Corn and soybeans are grown on my family’s farm in Kansas and we all recognize the significance of the cooperative relationship between China and the U.S.”

After the forum, Burns hosted Council staff for further discussions at his residence, marking the first time in seven years that a U.S. agricultural delegation was received there.

Boydston, Sifferath and Sanchez continued to Shanghai, China for the 6^th China International Import Expo on Nov. 6^th, where more than 200 agricultural, automotive, technology, pharmaceutical and health care companies gathered in the spirit of global partnership and trade. Read more about the event in next week’s edition of Global Update!