Jan 7, 2015

China's demand for cheaper alternatives to corn for livestock feed has led to the largest US sorghum sales last month in nearly two decades.

According to data released by the US Department of Agriculture, US exporters have sold 584,324 tonnes of sorghum in the week ending Dec. 18, of which, 332,867 tonnes went to China.

Though Beijing has recently approved one type of genetically-modified corn, China's demand for alternative livestock feed options is expected to grow sharply. This is especially true for sorghum since it is not genetically modified nor subjected to corn's import tariffs and quotas. Furthermore, it is also usually cheaper than corn, though sorghum prices may top corn values in the near future with China's soaring demand.

In fact, the USDA has forecasted that the United States will export 5.8 million tonnes of sorghum during the 2014/15 season - more than half of the harvest - with China importing 5 million tonnes of that.

Sorghum is also heavily used in the liquor industry in China as an ingredient in baijiu, and about one-third of US sorghum going to China is to be used in the production of alcohol.