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

Several years of U.S. Grains Council programs in Uruguay has led to the first-ever import of U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) by local dairy cooperative, Prolesa.

In October 2011, the Council brought representatives from a Prolesa to the Council’s regional buyers conference of DDGS and corn gluten feed. The conference took place in Panama City, Panama, and featured U.S. ethanol companies and DDGS marketers, as well as, nutritionists specialized in the use of DDGS in livestock rations. Sixty-five buyers from Mexico and Latin America attended the event.

The conference was a prime venue for U.S. DDGS producers and suppliers to meet some of the top importers and largest end-users of U.S. DDGS in Latin America. Attendees received an industry overview and hear topics including DDGS product profiles, transportation, product management and the actual value of the product for end-users.

The Council was able to host Prolesa through funding from the USDA’s Market Access Program. Since the conference, Prolesa imported 23,000 metric tons of DDGS, with an approximate value of $6.2 million from U.S. exporters in 2012, up from $0 in 2011. As this was the first import of DDGS by Uruguay, the Council hopeful the market for U.S. DDGS will continue to grow in the Latin American market.