By MEGAN KUHN
Indiana Soybean Alliance/
Indiana Corn Marketing Council

John Whaley, Indiana Corn Marketing Council (ICMC) director and a corn farmer from Brook, Ind., returned Dec. 18 from a 13-day trade mission to Japan, Taiwan and China, where he explored the use of U.S. corn and corn co-products such as distillers dried grains (DDGs). Whaley joined growers from four other states on the 2010 U.S. Grains Council (USGC) Corn Mission to encourage further partnerships with international customers.

“During the three successful visits, we were able to witness firsthand the strides American farmers and the Council are making in developing foreign grain markets,” said Whaley. “It takes a lot of time and energy to maintain relationships with these markets and keep corn flowing there. Indiana corn growers are benefiting significantly by partnering with USGC on these efforts.”
In Japan, the largest importer of U.S. corn, Whaley and the delegation met with feed manufacturers and feed trade groups, key individual customers such as agricultural cooperatives and three major corn processing associations. Whaley said Japan is most concerned with the quality of the grain being imported, while in Taiwan, the focus is maintaining important market relationships.
During the visit to Taiwan, the group helped strengthen relations with key traders, users and buyers of U.S. corn and DDGs with solubles (DDGS), a corn co-product produced during the conversion of corn to ethanol.

The USGC first set foot in Taiwan 37 years ago, and since then, has been successful in obtaining the fourth largest market of U.S. corn in the world. USGC is a partnership of farmers – including the ICMC – and agribusinesses committed to building and expanding international markets for U.S. barley, corn, grain sorghum and their products.

“Taiwan has been a stable, but significant, market for U.S. corn,” said Whaley. “Even though some recent market share has been lost, they are still importing the bulk of their corn from the U.S. With the good quality 2010 corn crop from the U.S., some of that lost market should be gained back.”

In China, the group dove into the outlook for DDGs through meetings with traders who explored the outlook for U.S. corn and DDGS, plus visits to a feed mill and a container port to gain a better understanding of the trade process.
“China has unlimited potential, which is just now starting to crack open,” said Whaley. “They will need to import; the question now is from who and how much. Whether or not they take U.S. corn, China’s corn needs will increase global corn demand, strengthening corn markets worldwide.”
For more information on grain export efforts, visit www.grains.org

Going to the Grain Forum?

The 2011 Livestock, Forage and Grain Forum is at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis this Friday.

The first afternoon soybean/corn session will include an update on the Indiana On-Farm Network, which consists of farmers in targeted areas of the state partnering to conduct on-farm trials using existing equipment and technologies.
During the second afternoon soybean/corn session, Jim Wiesemeyer of Informa Economics will talk about “Washington Politics & Policy: Outlook after the Elections.” To read more about these breakout sessions and the forum, visit www.indianasoybean.com