Exports of U.S. feed grains have a promising outlook after the completion of the first quarter of the 2016/2017 marketing year, according to recently published U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) trade data.
Total exports of feed grains in all forms in September, October and November 2016 reached 27.9 million metric tons (1.1 billion bushels), up 32 percent from the same quarter last year.
The feed grains in all forms calculation takes into account the grain equivalent of the value-added and processed forms of feed grains as well as unprocessed grains. Sharply higher exports of corn (up 83 percent) and ethanol (up 85 percent) and moderately higher beef (up 19 percent), pork (up 15 percent) and poultry (up 13 percent) exports offset lower shipments of barley (down 82 percent), sorghum (down 60 percent) and distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) (down 4 percent) in this timeframe.
The strong first quarter and USDA's latest full-year forecasts for many of the product categories indicate that worldwide U.S. shipments of grains in all forms in 2016/2017 could be higher than the past marketing year, even reaching a new record high.
U.S. exports of corn during the first quarter of the new marketing year reached 14 million metric tons (550.4 million bushels). In those three months, Mexico, Japan and South Korea were the top three customers of U.S. corn, respectfully.
Mexico imported 18 percent more in the current year’s first quarter – from 2.78 million metric tons (109.4 million bushels) in the 2015/2016 marketing year to 3.27 million metric tons (128.9 million bushels). U.S. corn exports to Japan rose 72 percent from 1.64 million metric tons (64.5 million bushels) to 2.80 million metric tons (110.6 million bushels). South Korea imported 1.58 million metric tons (62.4 million bushels), up from just 69,000 metric tons (2.7 million bushels) during the same period in the previous marketing year. Other countries increasing imports included Peru, Nicaragua, Panama, Taiwan and Indonesia.
U.S. ethanol exports in the first quarter reached 353 million gallons, up 85 percent from the same quarter last year, and 3.2 million metric tons (126.4 million bushels) of corn equivalent. The primary reason for this strong performance was the competitiveness of U.S. ethanol compared to its main competitor, Brazil.
The top three U.S. ethanol customers for this quarter included Brazil, Canada and China, respectfully, with other top 10 markets showing sizable gains from last year including India, Peru, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and Nigeria. The cumulative-to-date volume of U.S. ethanol exports for the 2016/2017 marketing year is more than 40 percent of the previous marketing year’s total volume of 868.3 million metric tons.
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