Grain Exports Promising In North Africa Middle East - Dec 06, 2008

Kurt Shultz, U.S. Grains Council (USGC) director for the Mediterranean and North Africa, said North African grain markets have been relatively unaffected by the world's financial turmoil. In terms of credit, Tunisia and Morocco have managed to comfortably stay afloat."I have talked to both Tunisian and Moroccan grain importers and feed millers to see if they have had any problems, particularly with accessing credit. Their equivocal response has been ‘no,'" Shultz said.

Tunisian and Moroccan banks have always had restrictions on the use of more complex financial instruments available in the international banking system; so in essence, they have been spared the problems the rest of the world is experiencing.U.S. distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and corn gluten feed (CGF) exports are benefiting from combination shipments with U.S. soybean meal, the USGC said. Morocco is expected to import over 85,000 tonnes of U.S. DDGS in 2008 versus 54,000 tonnes in 2007. In 2009, Morocco could increase its U.S. DDGS imports to 100,000-150,000 tonnes as end-users become increasingly familiar with the product.

A year and a half ago, due to a severe drought, Morocco waived duties on corn imports from all origins, increasing the competition against U.S. corn. Duties on soybean meal still favored U.S. origin, and U.S. DDGS and CGF have benefited as importers include them in combination shipments of soybean meal, DDGS and CGF. In June 2009, the Moroccan government is expected to re-impose duties on corn imports to 7%," Shultz said.

The USGC also said opportunities for U.S. grains exist in the Middle East and North Africa. Over the past year, volatile markets have caused global consumers and feed grain merchants concern over the availability of U.S. grain. In an effort to re-establish relationships with these end-users and addressed these concerns, the U.S. Grains Council hosted risk management training sessions throughout the Middle East and North Africa earlier this year. Last week the Council arranged for Jay O'Neil, a USGC consultant with the International Grains Program at Kansas State University, to hold one-on-one follow-up discussions on risk management and purchasing in light of current soft markets. "Most of this region [Middle East and North Africa] is uninformed about the risk management options available to them," said O'Neil.

O'Neil traveled to Amman, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to meet with local grain traders, importers and end-users. "The economy in Saudi Arabia is obviously very strong and the feed industry there is growing quickly. The economies of non-oil producing countries in North Africa are not as strong, however, and they have felt the effects of high commodity prices and historically high ocean freight costs. Most buyers in the Middle East and North Africa will benefit from seminars on risk management and the world supply and demand situation looking out into 2009-10," said O'Neil.

He reassured participants of the abundant supply of U.S. corn and feed grains, reminding them of the record highs in production and exports these past few marketing years. U.S. corn sales to Saudi Arabia reached one million tonnes (39 million bushels) in the 2007-08 marketing year, double the sales value of 2006-07 marketing year.