Algeria imported 3.5 million metric tons of feed grains last year, with corn reaching 126 million bushels and barley topping 17.7 million bushels. Algeria’s corn sales were dominated by Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine, France and Romania, and barley sales by France, Finland, the U.K. and Bulgaria. According to Cary Sifferath, U.S. Grains Council regional director, the U.S. market share is estimated at 2 percent overall.
“Much of the growth in Algeria’s market is the result of the Arab Spring, which allowed Algerian importers to take advantage of some shipments originally destined for Libya. That gave Algeria’s poultry producers access to lower-cost corn and soybean meal, which led to better producer profitsand expanded poultry production,” he said.
“The market is growing, but we need to work much harder to increase the U.S. market share in 2012,” Sifferath added.
“There’s a growing preference for Argentine “red” corn, and Black Sea corn often provides a cost advantage to its suppliers. This year, we want to focus on removing Algeria’s high import duty and Value-added tax on distiller’s grains in order to promote combination shipments of U.S. corn and co-products.”