Home

2015/2016 Sorghum Harvest and Export Quality Report

Contents

  1. Harvest Quality Highlights
  2. Export Quality Highlights
  3. Introduction
  4. Harvest Quality Test Results
  5. Moisture
  6. Physical Factors
  7. Mycotoxins
  8. Export Quality Test Results
  9. Moisture
  10. Chemical Composition
  11. Physical Factors
  12. Mycotoxins
  13. Crop and Weather Conditions
  14. Planting and Early Growth Conditions
  15. Late Vegetative and Mid-Pollination Conditions
  16. Maturity and Harvest Conditions
  17. Comparison of 2015 to 2010-2014
  18. U.S. Sorghum Export System
  19. U.S. Sorghum Export Flow
  20. Impact of the Sorghum Market Channel on Quality
  21. U.S. Government Inspection and Grading
  22. U.S. Sorghum Production, Usage and Outlook
  23. U.S. Sorghum Use and Ending Stocks
  24. Outlook
  25. Harvest Survey and Statistical Analysis Methods
  26. Survey Design and Sampling
  27. Statistical Analysis
  28. Export Survey and Statistical Analysis Methods
  29. Survey Design and Sampling
  30. Statistical Analysis
  31. Testing Analysis Methods
  32. Sorghum Grading Factors
  33. Moisture
  34. Chemical Composition
  35. Physical Factors
  36. Mycotoxin Testing
Download report

B. U.S. Sorghum Use and Ending Stocks

  • Beginning in the 2013/2014 marketing year (MY13/14), Chinese imports of U.S. sorghum increased rapidly. As a result of Chinese demand, the U.S. exported approximately 9.0 mmt (352.9 mil bu) of sorghum in MY14/15. This was the highest value for total exports in a single marketing year on record and represented more than 80% of the total U.S. sorghum crop. This demand created price premiums on corn in many parts of the United States, and led to reduced domestic consumption of sorghum for feed and ethanol uses.
  • The amount of sorghum used for food, seed and industrial purposes in MY14/15 was much lower relative to MY11/12, MY12/13 and MY13/14, largely due to sorghum’s decreased use in ethanol production.
  • Despite the spike in export demand for U.S. sorghum and the 2011 crop being the smallest crop in more than 50 years, domestic consumption of sorghum for feed and residual uses remained fairly constant over the past four completed marketing years.
  • The smaller 2012 corn crop, due not only to the drought, but also to sorghum’s substitutability with corn, drew the MY12/13 sorghum ending stocks to their lowest level in 50 years. While a large crop in MY13/14 helped rebuild ending stocks, the spike in export demand for U.S. sorghum, peaking in MY14/15, again drew ending stocks down to the third-lowest level in the past 50 years.