Last week, the U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council’s (USGBC’s) regional office for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) held regional Buyers and Sellers Conferences in Casablanca, Morocco and Rome, Italy. The events connected U.S. producers and exporters to buyers and end-users in the region, to strengthen business relationships and promote the sale of U.S. corn, sorghum and their co-products in the area.
“The successes of previous editions of the event, in Dakar, Mombasa and Abidjan, created a strong reputation in the industry and generated such significant demand that we were able to expand to two back-to-back conferences,” said Ramy H. Taieb, USGBC regional director for EMEA.
“It’s a unique opportunity for buyers in the EMEA region to be in touch with the U.S. value chain and, especially for the African potential buyers, to learn more about establishing commercial connections with U.S. feed grain exporters.”
Both seminars featured speakers from various points of the agricultural supply chain, from U.S. farmers sharing perspectives on growing practices to storage and logistics experts helping buyers procure and preserve their inputs.
Staff from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) presented to attendees about the rigorous safety standards, tests and certifications done to ensure the quality of U.S. feed grains during the export process.
Additional segments on risk management and diet formulations helped end-users understand how to best harness U.S. feed grains and maximize revenue in their operations, cementing the advantages of U.S. products from the field to the customer.
The agenda included dedicated time for business-to-business meetings where attending agricultural industry stakeholders, including USGBC members ADM; The Andersons; Bunge; Cargill; CHS; CME; StoneX; International Feed; Transglobe; the United Sorghum Checkoff Program; and the Virginia Corn Board directly connected with potential business partners.
“Enabling trade is one of the pillars of the Council’s mission, and these events are prime examples of how the Council and its membership are capable of directly driving business for the U.S. agricultural industry,” Taieb said.
Learn more about the Council’s work in the EMEA region on the organization’s website.