By Kurt Shultz, U.S. Grains Council Regional Director for the Americas

A delegation sponsored by the Texas Department of Agriculture traveled to Colombia and Peru at the end of January to meet with importers to explore opportunities to export U.S. sorghum. The program complements ongoing U.S. Grains Council programs promoting sorghum from the United States in both of these countries.

Colombia, with its close proximity to the United States and the free trade agreement, is a promising future market for U.S. sorghum. While Peru also has a free trade agreement with the United States and removed the duty on U.S. sorghum, the team found the market would be more challenging to enter compared to Colombia. However, Peru has long term potential that needs to be cultivated.

The Council and National Sorghum Producers Association will follow up this program by inviting a candidate from each country to a Sorghum Marketing Conference in the United States in June 2013. In addition, the Council will be hosting numerous sorghum nutrition programs in Colombia and Peru later in 2013 to demonstrate the advantages of using U.S. sorghum in poultry and swine diets.