Developing new opportunities for U.S. agriculture in Southeast Asia was the goal of the 2018 Southeast Asia U.S. Agriculture Cooperators Conference (ACC) in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, co-sponsored by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA’s FAS).
The organizations joined efforts to provide Southeast Asian grain importers with the latest market and industry information on grain trade trends, fostering U.S. feed grain and oilseed sales into the region.
Leading importers from the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia as well as exporters from major U.S. trading companies interacted on trade and product issues and discussed shifting trade patterns and how to identify opportunities in the market to conduct actual sales. A contingency of U.S. farmers also connected directly with members of the overseas grain trade at the conference.
Based on written evaluations submitted, more than 1.1 million metric tons of U.S. agricultural products were traded at the 2018 conference, including 120,000 tons of U.S. corn and 246,000 tons of U.S. dried distiller’s grains with solubles (DDGS) valued at $74.5 million. Total U.S. grain and oilseed sales amounted to $322,650,000.
The Council invested $50,000 of Market Access Program (MAP) funds in support of this conference. With reported sales of $74.5 million of U.S. corn and DDGS, this translates into a return on investment (ROI) of $1,490 for every $1 of MAP funds invested.
About The U.S. Grains Council
The U.S. Grains Council develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and ethanol. With full-time presence in 28 locations, the Council operates programs in more than 50 countries and the European Union. The Council believes exports are vital to global economic development and to U.S. agriculture’s profitability. Detailed information about the Council and its programs is online at www.grains.org.