A 12,000-ton shipment of U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) arrived in Tunisia Sept. 19, just a couple of days ahead of a one-day DDGS conference held in Sfax, Tunisia, that was organized in part by the U.S. Grains Council.

About 90 people participated in the conference, including farmers, dairy cooperatives, feed millers and Ministry of Agriculture and other government officials.

All had an opportunity to hear presentations on the positive nutritional impact and cost savings that are possible when using DDGS at inclusion rates from 20 to 32 percent.

“Presentations at the conference included several feed formulations using current prices for feed ingredients,� said Cary Sifferath, USGC senior director in the Mediterranean and Africa. “They clearly showed that including DDGS even at the 20 percent level reduced feed costs compared to other feed ingredient options.�

The U.S. DDGS was imported by the feed manufacturer Medimix. The conference was designed to provide additional information and details to feed customers. “We want to make sure their first experience in buying U.S. DDGS is a positive one so they become a long-term repeat customer,� Sifferath said. “The response to the conference was very positive and interest in distillers grains was running high. With the information provided, we expect the DDGS will have a positive impact in terms of cost, production and feed quality.�

He noted that that the short-term market potential in Tunisia is about 50,000 to 100,000 tons of U.S. DDGS.

The recent shipment of U.S. DDGS was the second to Tunisia. The first came a little more than two years ago when SNA/Poulina imported some 4,700 tons that was fed to ruminants at an inclusion rate of about 10 percent.