A first shipment of US millet (sorghum) has reached Spain; There are more shipments. Spanish feed manufacturers are becoming US sorghum customers after China has imposed heavy tariffs on US grain since April.
US exporters are currently trying to sell thousands of tons of sorghum deliveries to China.
Sorghum is used primarily as animal feed and in China also for distilling the high-proof liquor Baijiu.
Deliveries to Spain had already been announced, but now the first ship of 56,500 tons has arrived in the northern Spanish port of Tarragona. Next week, another three ships (185,000 tons), which were originally loaded with a destination port in China in Texas, will now be unloaded in Spain.
Some traders expect Spain to buy around 20% of US sorghum exports. In doing so, the importers primarily want to supply compound feed companies that produce pig feed. So far, only little sorghum has been used in Europe, but corn, barley and wheat were in the feed mixes.
In the marketing year 2017/18 (ie since 01/07/2017), the EU imported 169,000 tonnes of sorghum by 8 May.US exporters offer buyers in Europe low prices. This currently pays off better than the use of corn and wheat. Whether the EU will continue to use more US sorghum in the future depends on the further development of the US-China relationship.
Text: HANSA Derivatives Trading GmbH /
