Thanks to the promotional efforts of the U.S. Grains Council taking advantage of the Phase One trade agreement between Washington and Beijing, China became dominant importer of U.S. sorghum again.
U.S. Grains Council formulated several virtual events over the spring and summer of 2020 to facilitate exports including sponsoring 3 virtual conferences with presentations on U.S. sorghum supply and quality and six virtual customer visits with major sorghum importers that the Council has worked with since sorghum programming began in 2013. These virtual programs brought together major sorghum buyers and U.S. sorghum producers, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program, the Kansas Grains Sorghum Producer Association, and the Texas Grain Sorghum Producer Association. As a result of the Council’s promotion programs, China imports of U.S. sorghum in MY 2019/2020 rose to $691 million, and anticipated exports in MY 2020/2021 far exceed those. China is back and is the dominant importer of U.S. sorghum.
Using Market Access Program (MAP) funds, the U.S. Grains Council’s Beijing office built upon strong customer relationships that the Council has fostered with sorghum importers since 2013 to take advantage of the Phase One trade agreement between the U.S. and China and the subsequent tariff exemption on U.S. sorghum to maximize exports.