WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Grains Council has released a new annual report designed to help inform foreign corn buyers, corn growers and other stakeholders as to the quality of product as it’s being readied for shipment overseas.

The 37-page document, called the Corn Export Quality Report, was released earlier this month. “This is the second of two new Council reports concerning the quality of the 2011 crop,” said Wendell Shauman, USGC chair and a farmer from Illinois.

“Earlier this year the Council’s Corn Harvest Quality Report surveyed corn quality at the farmgate. Together, these two reports are intended to provide reliable information on U.S. corn quality for the current marketing year, based on a transparent and consistent methodology.”

Marri Carrow, a spokeswoman for the Council, said the quality of the corn is not always uniform from year to year; in 2008 and 2009, for example, she said the quality of the U.S. corn crop was less than average. She said it’s “more important than ever that the United States show itself as a reliable, transparent supplier. Our door is never closed to exports. This export report will show our buyers that we care about their needs.”

Shauman said although the federal government provides information on grades and standards factors and moisture later in the year, via the Federal Grain Inspection Service, the USGC reports provide information on additional quality characteristics that are not reported elsewhere. Interested parties in the supply chain include seed companies, grain traders, shippers and processors of corn, as well as end-users.

The Council is hoping as people become more familiar with the reports, they will come to value them more. The latest report details the findings of government-licensed inspectors shortly before the product was to be shipped overseas.

Among the findings: grade factors, such as test weight, broken corn and foreign material (BCFM) and total damage on most samples were at or better than U.S. government grade limits, and compared favorably to government inspections from previous years.

Test weight was above the grade limit for U.S. No. 1 corn in 95 percent of the samples. Although BCFM increased as it moved through the supply chain, it was still below the maximum limit in each contract grade. Total damage increased during storage and transport, but almost 90 percent of the samples remained below the grade limit for U.S. No. 2 corn.

Also, average moisture levels in both contract grades were at safe storage levels for shipment in oceangoing vessels. More than 75 percent of the samples were at or below 14.5 percent moisture. Other quality factors included protein content, which was unchanged from the previous report; it was at 8.7 percent, better than reported in previous years. Starch content was slightly higher than the previous report, with 60 percent of samples equal to or above 74 percent.

This information could be important to top U.S. corn export markets, such as Japan, which imported 6.2 million metric tons from the United States between September 2011-February 2012, according to the Council. To view the entire report, visit the U.S.G.C. website at www.grains.org