Asian Buyers Make Big U.S. Commodity Purchases

By CnAgri2012-10-08 19:41:25 Print

During the 9th Southeast Asia U.S. Agricultural Cooperators Conference held last month, 1.245 million metric tons of U.S. agricultural products valued at nearly 560 million dollars was sold and or negotiated. The conference was conducted jointly between the U.S. Grains Council, American Soybean Association-International Marketing, United Soybean Board, and U.S. Wheat Associates. Sales of corn and distiller's dried grains with solubles totaled 390,000 metric tons.

Several major nations in Southeast Asia are achieving rapid economic growth, with Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia ranking among the top 10 U.S. export markets for DDGS. U.S. corn exports remain small due to price competition from India and South American producers, but rapid meat, poultry and dairy demand growth make this a potential growth market for the future.

"There will certainly be increased competition to fill demand this year as the United States suffers smaller corn production," said Julius Schaaf, USGC vice president, who presented during the conference. "South American corn, Indian corn, Indian feed wheat and Australian feed wheat are the primary feed ingredients making inroads into Southeast Asia demand.

"However, there is ample interest in price risk management with the market shifting from group think to performance of each individual business unit. This conference lends itself to be an excellent platform for information sharing and gathering insights into what continues to be and will remain a major growth engine on a global basis for raw ingredient demand, shifting consumer consumption habits."

This year's Conference attracted a record attendance of key decision buyers for feed grains and oil seeds, including multinational trading companies, integrated and independent livestock and feed producers, brokers and other businesses in and around Southeast Asia. This growing interest reflects the steady pace of Southeast Asia's increasing consumer demand, which is expected to continue to outperform more developed sectors and economies.