December 31, 2010

China's DDGS imports from US to exceed 3.1 million tonnes

China is on track to import more than 3.1 million tonnes of DDGS from the US this year, up from 652,000 tonnes last year, according to the China National Grain & Oil Information Centre.

The data is in line with private-sector estimates of bilateral trade in the animal feed, a commodity that gained global attention Tuesday (Dec 28) when China opened an antidumping investigation into American DDGS exports to China.

In the first 11 months of the year, China imported 2.916 million tonnes of American DDGS, an increase of around six times over the same period last year.

January-November shipments were valued at US$694 million, the centre said. In the same period last year, China imported 453,000 tonnes of US DDGS, valued at US$92 million.

In 2008, China imported not even 10,000 tonnes of the grain, which is made when starch and ethanol are removed from corn, the centre said in a report.