DDGS Exports Are Up
Shipping has been a problem, but good growth seen in 2009.
Compiled by staff
Published: May 11, 2009
The U.S. Grains Council reports good news concerning the U.S. export of distillers' dried grains with soluble, or DDGS, a co-product of U.S. ethanol production. The level of exports continues to climb. For the first two months of 2009, USGC reports exports were up 36,000 metric tons or 6% above the same period in 2008.
"We anticipate the increase of DDGS exports in 2009 will boost domestic ethanol production," said USGC Manager of International Operations for DDGS Dan Keefe. "There is no doubt, in the short term; the macroeconomic impacts of the recession have slowed the pace of U.S. exports, especially in DDGS, causing shortages in container freight, foreign credit restrictions for buyers, poor feeding margins and other factors."
However the USGC expects the economy to recover and ethanol production to increase, and Keefe says now that bulk ocean freight has stabilized, slightly higher values will be reflected in the container freight rates.
"Higher than normal soybean meal, oil prices and other unusual events have impacted trade flows and freight costs, adding relative value to the price of DDGS but limiting container freight to Asia. This makes it difficult to meet demand to certain container-freight-only destinations," Keefe said. "Normal trade flows are expected to stabilize as world economic pressure begins to alleviate, which in turn will influence the increase of container freight availability."
In 2008, the United States exported 4.51 million tons of DDGS, almost double from the previous year's 2.36 million tons exported. Council presence in overseas markets continues to prove successful as the largest U.S. DDGS markets continue on an upward trend.
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Tagged: ethanol, soybean
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