U.S. DDGS Shipments To Mexico Increase After Feeding Trials

Utilizing Market Access Program (MAP) funds, the U.S. Grains Council’s Mexico office has invested in marketing U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubes (DDGS) through feeding trials in southeast Mexico, growing this market by nearly 70 percent between 2015 and 2016.

In 2016, the Council completed six cattle feeding trials and more than 50 DDGS promotional presentations in Yucatan, Campeche and northern Veracruz. This region hosts large numbers of small cattle producers that are underserved by U.S. and Mexican feed producers. The Council believes that this region has the potential to be a 1-2 million ton feed market and is working to demonstrate this potential to industry by signing memorandums of understanding (MOU) with local feed companies and ingredient suppliers to promote investment into the region.

The Council started promoting DDGS into this region more than five years ago. Growth has been slow, however the Council is witnessing incremental growth through MOU partners including large cattle and dairy associations that are now importing more than 16,300 of U.S. DDGS per year, valued at $3 million. In addition, the Council has been able to convince two new U.S. suppliers to begin investing into supplying this region with U.S. DDGS.

From 2015 to 2016, the southeast Mexico DDGS market grew 68 percent. Almost 145,000 metric tons of DDGS was imported from the ports of Veracruz, Coatzacoalcos, and Progreso in 2015, and 245,000 metric tons imported in 2016. The value of the growth in imports of DDGS over the past year is approximately $18 million. The Council invested $40,000 of MAP funds in support of these promotion efforts, resulting in a return on investment (ROI) of $450 per $1 of MAP funds invested.