January-to-June distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) exports saw a 16 percent increase in sales to Southeast Asia, depite a 11 percent loss in total export sales, reported Adel Yusupov, U.S. Grains Council regional director in Southeast Asia. A major factor is the drop in Chinese purchasing. While China’s July imports were up almost 38 percent from June, they were still well below sales for the same period last year.

Worldwide, DDGS sales for the first seven months of 2011 totaled 4.4 million metric tons, valued at more than $1 billion. The biggest buyers are Mexico, China and Canada, followed by Vietnam and South Korea.

“Within Southeast Asia, DDGS shipments are up 7 percent to Indonesia, 13 percent to Vietnam, 69 percent to the Philippines, and 128 percent to Malaysia,� Yusupov reported. “Sales are down 2 percent in Thailand, where the government introduced new import requirements for feedstuffs, including DDGS. Importers of U.S. DDGS will have to submit information on the product and its origin to obtain a license.�

The new rules also set a minimum protein level of 26 percent (measured at destination) for DDGS imports.

“We have notified USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) office in Thailand that this could potentially limit U.S. DDGS exports to Thailand, and FAS will consider this issue as a subject to raise with the Thai government,� Yusupov said.