This week’s U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC) Chart of Note illustrates how exports of U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) have shifted from China to other countries in recent months.

While China accounted for about 50 percent of U.S. DDGS exports in the first half of 2014, new restrictions announced in July have led to a decline in U.S. DDGS sales to that country from an average of more than 500,000 metric tons per month to just 167,000 tons in September. However, sales to the rest of the world surged in September from about 500,000 metric tons per month in the previous months to 745,000 tons, about 81 percent of U.S. DDGS exported.

As this week’s Chart of Note shows, despite a drop of 175,000 tons of DDGS exported in September compared to August, total U.S. DDGS exports for 2014 are almost 9.2 million tons, 95 percent of the total U.S. DDGS exports in the entirety of 2013, a very impressive performance in light of the sudden interruption of trade with China this summer.

Exports of U.S. DDGS to Mexico, Taiwan, Canada, Latin America and Korea have helped keep demand strong for this value-added product. These are all markets in which the Council has a presence and will continue work to educate buyers and end-users on the merits of DDGS.