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Cuba policy changes could boost corn, DDGS exports

distillers grains-dakota ethanolThe U.S Grains Council (USGC) says exports of corn and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) could increase dramatically if diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba are fully normalized.

USGC says Cuba has the potential to become the 12th largest market for U.S. corn if trade is truly open.

The U.S. has sold corn to Cuba each marketing year since the early 2000s and DDGS since 2005. U.S. corn market share in Cuba has varied, running as high as 100 percent in the 2007-2008 marketing year but as low as 15 percent in recent years due to regulatory changes that made achieving financing more challenging.

U.S. DDGS market share in Cuba is at or near 100 percent. Overall, the market takes about 900-thousand metric tons—or 35.4 million bushels—of corn each year, and has taken up to 150-thousand tons of DDGS annually.

USGC says the new movement related to Cuba policy has accelerated its plans to re-engage that country in early 2015 as part of the organization’s wider strategy focusing on coarse grains and co-products exports to the Western Hemisphere.

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