By Cesar Diaz, U.S. Grains Council Marketing Specialist for the Americas

The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand. That was the case for a group of Ecuadorian nutritionists and their pre conceived notions about the quality, handling, storage and purchase of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS). With the help of the U.S. Grains Council, the team of nutritionists, representing some of Ecuador’s top feed companies, traveled to Costa Rica to meet with local feed producers and learn about their more than 10 years of experience using DDGS.

The team discovered that in Costa Rica, despite being a small country, a group of companies had gotten together and set quality guidelines and import parameters to ensure the best product available at the best price. In addition, the Ecuadorians were able to learn from local nutritionists about the quality of DDGS and how it is not a substitute of soybean meal and corn. Through these meetings, the team was able to really understand and see how DDGS has become an essential ingredient throughout Costa Rica.

After the trip, the Ecuadorian nutritionists were left with a deeper understanding of the many uses and benefits of DDGS and were able to see the opportunity for other companies to use more of the product in the future. The Council recently learned that the Ecuadorian government imposed a 12 percent duty on DDGS imports which will make the product less competitive in this market. Imports will likely continue but this is a new challenge that the Council is trying to find a way to overcome by rallying local industry to contact the Ecuadorian officials and ask that this tariff be removed.