Ethanol Blog

China's quest for self-sufficiency may result in less demand for U.S. corn; however, its demand for U.S.-produced dried distillers grains will continue to increase, according to Richard Brock, president of Brock Associates, an agricultural marketing firm.

In an article for AgriNews (http://bit.ly/…), Brock noted that China's purchased of the large pork producer Smithfield in 2013 will mean more demand for DDG.

Pork producers pay for protein by the pound, so DDG's high protein content still makes it a valuable feed ingredient and a good value, despite the high prices in recent years.

China is the largest market for U.S. DDG. While imports dropped dramatically for a short time after the country rejected shipments containing the MIR 162 GMO trait developed by Syngenta Ag in December, imports quickly rebounded. In fact, China's imports of U.S. DDG in January 2014 reached near record levels, totally 575,462 metric tons. This was just below the record set in September 2013 of 605,153 tons.

Also, constraints in China's grain production are believed to support the country's long-term demand and growth for grain and DDG imports.

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at Cheryl.anderson@dtn.com.

(ES)

© Copyright 2014 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.