US Grains Council Continues to Build Demand

According to long-term projections released last week by USDA, growth in coarse grain trade is – strongly - linked to expansion of livestock and poultry industries in regions unable to meet their own feed needs. The report lists China, Mexico, North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia as the top growth markets. U.S. Grains Council Chairman Jim Broten, says – it is no coincidence – that USGC is conducting hands-on market development programs to expand livestock industries in those same areas.

Council members identified these developing markets as top priorities during the Council’s International Marketing Conference in Guatemala last week. Broten says - by taking down trade barriers, developing and nurturing those markets we were able to generate 659-million dollars for U.S. farmers in 2008.

The USDA report projects a recovery after 2010, which will remain slightly above the historical average long-term growth rate during the last half of the 2009-2018 period. This renewed growth provides the foundation for gains in world demand. According to Mike Dwyer, chief economist of USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, the efforts of the Council certainly pushed U.S. feed grain demand upward. World coarse grains trade is projected to expand nearly 19 million tons or 16 percent from 2009-2018.