Ethanol Blog

In the midst of a national uproar over China's announcement to cease issuing permits for all U.S.-produced dried distillers grains with solubles, an official from the U.S. Department of Agriculture believes the crisis is only temporary, according to an article by Agrimoney.com (http://bit.ly/…).

Joseph Glauber, USDA chief economist, said he believes China's curbs on U.S. DDGS and corn are only a "temporary" hiccup, as the country will need to continue to import large amounts of grain to meet its growing demand for meat and need for increasing amounts of protein for livestock rations.

Despite the suspended imports and reluctance to approve the MIR 162 GMO trait in corn, the manager of a Chinese logistics company said that Chinese feed mills are reluctant to purchase U.S. corn and DDGS for fear it will be rejected.

Such fears may be evident in China's increasing purchases of U.S. sorghum -- nearly 2.5 million metric tons so far in the 2013-14 marketing year -- and its move to solicit corn from the Ukraine and other countries.

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at Cheryl.anderson@dtn.com

(ES)

© Copyright 2014 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.