July 29, 2008
China, promising market for US grains
China is a promising market for US grain exports while shipments to Japan and Taiwan have been rising steadily over the years, according to Cary Sifferath, US Grains Council's senior director in China and former country director in Japan, and C.M. Lynn, director of the Council's Taiwan office.
Sifferath said China is trying to keep grain prices low to mitigate food inflation but at the same time they are attempting to keep prices high enough at the feed level to encourage farmers to continue producing.
China is currently only exporting grains to Taiwan and North Korea after restrictions on shipments. However, China's hunger for grains is on the rise as the country undergoes significant economic growth, growing urbanisation and increasing demand for pork, poultry, milk and vegetable oil.
At the meantime, US barley and distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) shipments to Japan are growing. Japan imported 254,000 tonnes of US barley from January to May 2008, over a third of total barley imports at 655,000 tonnes.
Japan has also imported 23,000 tonnes of DDGS in May but the US can expect to continue export DDGS at a pace of 20,000 tonnes per month, according to Sifferath.
So far this year, Japan has imported nearly 84,000 tonnes of US DDGS.
Feed grain exports to Taiwan have also continued to grow over the years, hitting a record high of 5.2 million tonnes in 2006. Sales have declined in the past year but the US still enjoyed a 96 percent market share in 2007, Lynn said.
