USGC Efforts Address Issues Threatening U.S. Sorghum Exports To China

By using Market Access Program (MAP) funds the U.S. Grains Council invested $150,000 and partnered with Kansas State, Texas Sorghum, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program and the National Sorghum Producers, to successfully coordinate a multifaceted program that has resulted in a growth in U.S. sorghum exports to China by 4.1 million metric tons (161.4 million bushels) in 2015. In the marketing year (MY) 2013/2014, the United States exported 4.2 million tons (165 million bushels) of sorghum to China while in MY2014/2015, the U.S. exports of sorghum to China soared to 8.3 million tons (327 million bushels).

The rising import pace is even more remarkable when compared to the expectations of the industry in the summer of 2015. In June 2015, USDA APHIS met with China’s Agricultural Quality, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ) service to discuss multiple issues that included increased detection of quarantined pests, namely weed seeds, in U.S. sorghum shipments.

AQSIQ officials explained that while they also find these pests in soybean shipments, imports of soybeans from the United States are processed and crushing facilities near the ports, while sorghum shipments are transported unprocessed to feed mills and livestock facilities far away from the ports. Because of this, they had been finding weeds from quarantined seeds in agricultural areas using U.S. sorghum and were going to take a much tougher approach to these weed seeds.

USDA FAS and APHIS officials explained the outcome of this meeting to the leadership of the National Sorghum Producers and the United Sorghum Checkoff Program while they were in China on a USGC organized trip. The sentiment at the time was that China would use these quarantine pests to crack down on sorghum imports and many at the meeting expected shipments to be rejected at some point.

However, the sorghum leaders conveyed these concerns to their producers in an effort to ensure that harvest was done carefully to minimize weed seeds that may disrupt trade.

Later in the season, importers brought up the issue of increased levels of Zearalenone, a mycotoxin that affects mostly sows and weaned piglets, in U.S. sorghum exports to China. Again, the Council quickly reviewed the issue and engaged industry in China to address this issue.

Combined, these efforts resulted in a greater level of imports of U.S. sorghum in MY2014/2015 than in MY2013/2014. This result was a great success compared to the expectations of the industry in the summer of 2015, and is due in part to the Council’s efforts and programs that have maintained continual communication between trading partners, end-users and government officials to address issues threatening U.S. sorghum exports