U.S. corn sales to Algeria are making a strong showing in 2016, doubling 2014/2015 marketing year imports.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) export sales report for Aug. 18, 2016, showed 527,000 metric tons (20.7 million bushels) of U.S. corn being exported to Algeria in the 2015/2016 marketing year, more than double sales last marketing year of 238,000 metric tons (9.3 million bushels).

It is one market being tracked by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) as the new corn crop nears harvest and global market forces indicate potential for new pockets of demand for corn and other feed grain products.

“The U.S. is taking advantage of the poor crop and port congestion situation in South America and is recapturing market share that we haven’t seen in over a decade,” said Malek Djebaili, USGC consultant in Algeria. “The Council is working with this market opportunity and aggressively engaging the major importers in Algeria.”

While Algeria is a relatively small market in terms of total U.S. corn exports – and overall exports to the region as a whole are on par with the last marketing year – it and neighbors in North Africa show potential for growth that USGC is seeking to capture through market development and targeted marketing on specific crops.

Among the Council’s coming programs are procurement courses for Algerian buyers of U.S. corn, scheduled to take place in Fargo, North Dakota, this September, and a workshop to continue to provide traders with the latest data on the U.S. corn crop and pricing, scheduled to take place in Algiers in the second week of October. In addition, the Council continues to push the Algerian government to lower the import duties on U.S. DDGS and corn gluten feed.

The full USDA sales report is here.

More about exports of U.S. grains in all forms, which takes into account commodity exports and their corn equivalents, is at the USGC Grains In All Forms portal here.