The feed grains in all forms calculation made by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) accounts for feed grains exported by the U.S. in either unprocessed or value-added forms, which offers a holistic look at demand from global customers being met by U.S. farmers.
It includes U.S. corn, sorghum, barley, distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS), corn gluten feed (CGF), corn gluten meal (CGM), ethanol as measured in corn equivalents, meat and poultry as measured in corn equivalents, and processed feed grain products.
The highest export volume recorded by this measure was in 2008 with 100.6 million tonnes, only slightly higher than the 2015-16 total.
In the marketing year that just finished, higher exports of corn, DDGS, and pork offset lower exports of barley, CGF and CGM, sorghum and poultry from the previous marketing year, according to the USGC.
Exports of unprocessed feed grains (corn, sorghum and barley) accounted for only 56.6% of total exports of feed grains in all forms.
According to 10-year projections by the USDA and the USGC, feed grains in all forms have a positive outlook in the future as exports are expected to increase by 26.5 million tonnes (1.04 billion bushels) to 127 million tonnes (5 billion bushels) by 2025-26. These larger exports will come in the forms of corn, ethanol, and meat and poultry.
Looking at the bigger picture of U.S. grain demand, the USGC said unprocessed feed grains accounted for almost 16% of U.S. feed grain production in the 2015-16 marketing year. However, exports consumed 27% of U.S. grain when including value-added forms of feed grain exports.
By 2025-26, feed grain and products exports are expected to reach almost a third of U.S. production with international markets for U.S. corn as an animal feed, ethanol and meat as the industry’s principal drivers.
To achieve these possibilities, members of the U.S. feed grains industry support broad-based trade agreements such as those signed with Central America, Peru and Colombia as well as the pending 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), according to the USGC.
More about the feed grains in all forms analysis and how U.S. exports fared in the last marketing year may be found here.
