The U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regional office hosted its 12th annual corn quality report (CQR) seminar in January in Tunis, Tunisia. The event welcomed more than 120 attendees from 14 countries including Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Turkey, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast and Kenya.
Seminar topics included global and U.S. feed grain supply and demand; corn co-products cost and availability; and a technical presentation on the value of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) in feed formulations. Attendees also heard from U.S. growers and farmer representatives from North Dakota, Kentucky and Maryland during the conference. USGC members in attendance included Jennie Schmidt, Middle East/Africa/South Asia Advisory Team (A-Team) leader from Maryland; Jean Henning, state checkoff sector director, and Terry Wehlander, Asia A-Team member, from North Dakota; Micah Lester from Kentucky; John Hagios, Value Added A-Team leader, and Scott Tilton from The Andersons; in addition to Matt Ammermann from StoneX.
“The information shared was very useful for all stakeholders to not only glean information about current crop conditions and quality, which then translates to purchasing decisions but also in allowing USGC to showcase the value, transparency and integrity of the U.S. corn export market from the farm through the whole marketing system. By providing transparent information on the U.S. new crop corn quality, the U.S. corn industry can maintain a long-term relationship with EMEA feed and food grain industry buyers,” said Ramy H. Taieb, USGC EMEA regional director.
In addition to the CQR event, Council staff invited the U.S. growers to visit regional programming in Tunisia and Turkey.
This activity, the CQR seminar and site visits not only informed buyers in the EMEA region of this year’s crop quality, but it also allowed U.S. grower members to see firsthand the work being done in the region to develop markets, enable trade and improve lives.
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