Council’s South Asia Office Offers Protein Outlook, Corn Harvest Quality Report Review

The U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) South Asia office recently held a virtual panel designed to provide a global demand and production outlook for animal proteins including eggs, chicken, pork and fish. The Council staff also used this opportunity to review the 2021/2022 Corn Harvest Quality Report with participants.

Nearly 135 participants, made up of management and procurement staff from feed, poultry and livestock organizations in the region, registered for the event.

Alejandra Danielson-Castillo, USGC South Asia regional director, welcomed participants before moving into speaker presentations.

“These programs provide a great opportunity to not only learn about U.S. grains but to also discuss long-term projections, new market opportunities and most importantly, promote information sharing and learning. For South Asia, this is of critical importance, especially as the region emerges from severe demand destruction as a result of COVID-19,” Danielson-Castillo said.

Programming and speakers then turned to the subject of animal proteins, beginning with aquaculture.

Dr. Ronnie Tan, USGC’s regional aquaculture consultant in Southeast Asia, began by addressing animal proteins, specifically regarding aquaculture. He provided insight on the production outlook, and Dr. Paul Aho, president of Poultry Perspectives, discussed poultry and chicken layers. Katelyn McCullock, director of the Livestock Marketing Information Center, followed up with a look at the production outlook for dairy.

“I think what we can expect between 2022 and 2023 is an additional 25 million metric tons of chicken and egg production around the world, and most of that increase will be in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe,” Aho said.

Before entering a question-and-answer session hosted by Amit Sachdev, USGC regional consultant in India, participants heard from Dr. Vijay Singh, director of the integrated bioprocessing research laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Singh provided his findings on the research of corn starch extractability by origin. Dr. Kyle Gilliam, USGC manager of global strategies and trade, then presented the findings of the 2021-2022 Corn Harvest Quality Report.

To build and strengthen relationships with buyers and end-users while focusing on its mission of developing markets, enabling trade and improving lives, the Council focuses on educational programming around the world. Programs like this one help to expand opportunities for U.S. corn, sorghum and barley producers.