2022 ANNUAL REPORT

China has the world’s largest beer industry. While dominated by large producers making typical lager-style beers, there is a small but growing craft beer industry. This latter portion of the industry seeks to source a variety of malted barley products from the global market, where the U.S. can come into play.

Events like Cerveza Mexico, which the Council has participated in for six years, provide a unique opportunity each year to maintain and cultivate relationships between barley growers, craft maltsters and brewers.

As the top year-over-year market for U.S. barley and barley products, exports to Mexico totaled 323,500 MT (15 million bushels) worth $219 million. Mexico was the only market to receive exports of more than 80,000 MT in MY 2021/22.

As stewards of the land, farmers understand the responsibility they have to create a more environmentally and economically sustainable world for future generations. The CSAP compiles and describes the regulations, processes and best practices that ensure sustainable corn production.

Mexico surpassed China as the top market for U.S. corn in MY 2021/22, totaling a record 16.8 MMT (662 million bushels), worth $5 billion, up eight percent from MY 2020/21. Mexico represented 27 percent of total U.S. corn exports in MY 2021/22.

Following record corn purchases, Canada rose two spots, surpassing South Korea and Colombia to become the fourth-largest market for U.S. corn in MY 2021/22, totaling 6 MMT, (238 million bushels), worth $1.6 billion.

In its first conference ever held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) welcomed more than 45 feed millers and importers in Riyadh, promoting U.S. corn and co-products.

The Council has signed MOUs with various partners in Mexico to show the organization’s dedication to finding homes and new uses for U.S. DDGS. At its height, DDGS enters Mexico in bulk at 8,000-10,000 MT per month and is distributed to the feed industry.

Record amounts of DDGS exported to Ecuador, Colombia and Jamaica during MY 2021/2022 showcase growing demand for the commodity across the Latin American region.

The Council welcomed Canada’s finalized Clean Fuel Regulations, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The regulations will rely heavily on the use of low-carbon biofuels like ethanol.

Implemented in 2020, the RenovaBio program in Brazil seeks to decarbonize the transport sector by setting reduction targets for fuel distributors there. The program has set ambitious goals to decarbonize the transportation sector and U.S. ethanol is expected to play an essential role in the next few years.

Direct exports of U.S. ethanol to Southeast Asia and Oceania in marketing year (MY) 2021/2022 totaled 78.1 million gallons, a year-over-year increase of 37.7%. The region is now the seventh-largest destination for U.S. ethanol.

After its second-largest export year on record, China maintained its status as the top market for U.S. sorghum for the ninth consecutive year, with exports totaling 6.5 MMT (258 million bushels) in MY 2021/22, worth $2.3 billion.

While sorghum use in animal feeds is common in many of the Council's markets, it has been seldom used in Kenya. The Council’s sorghum trials set out to demonstrate the quality, benefits and performance of U.S. sorghum when included in poultry diets.

Food and beverage companies around the world are looking to sorghum for new product development. With sorghum being gluten free, having antioxidant properties and being sustainable, it has generated interest in the food production industry.

Over the past two years, corn samples from the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine, Serbia, Indonesia and India were taken from warehouses of six industrial starch processors. The samples were shipped to the University of Illinois for analysis. Results showed U.S. corn yielded two to four percent higher extractable starch than other origins.

While aquaculture is one of the fastest growing protein sources in the world, hurdles to worldwide success have threatened to limit successful incorporation of DDGS in the aquafeed market. That’s where the Council has stepped in to help the industry capture the value of DDGS.

The Export Exchange conference hosted by the Council, Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is paid dividends, according to surveys of overseas grain buyers who attended – they purchased $225 million worth of grain and ethanol co-product.

After nearly four years of work, the Council’s staff and representatives in India moved into a newly-established physical office in central New Delhi – the first new outpost for the organization since 2010.

The United Kingdom implemented an E10 policy to build on its goal of developing a net-zero transport sector by 2050. Moving to an E10 policy aligns the U.K. with other European countries that have successful E10 blending, including Belgium, Finland, France and Sweden.