In good times and bad: U.S. trade open for business

WASHINGTON — The United States is and has been open for business throughout the pandemic, said Ryan LeGrand, president and CEO of the U.S. Grains Council.

“Simply put, we have the most reliable grain export system in the world,” he said. “We work to reassure our customers around the world that they can count on us to supply their needs in the good times and the bad.”

LeGrand was a speaker during an online meeting presented by the Indiana Soybean Alliance and Indiana Corn Marketing Council.

The U.S. Grains Council is a nonprofit trade association that works with U.S. producers of corn, barley and sorghum.

“The council’s mission is to develop markets, enable trade and improve lives,” LeGrand said. “We do that by managing three pillars of our association: trade policy, trade servicing and demand building.

“Despite the coronavirus pandemic, we have continued to make progress in all three pillars of our work here at the council.”

Leaders of the council are working on trade policy issues in Vietnam and Indonesia.

“We’ve been working for a couple of years in Indonesia to convince their government to remove the ban on imported ethanol,” LeGrand said.

Now U.S. ethanol can now enter the Indonesian market by way of pre-blended fuel.

This change creates a potential market of more than 200 million gallons, or 71 million bushels of corn.

The council continues to work on creating a level playing field for tariffs in Vietnam. They are also helping the Vietnamese government achieve their goal of moving from an E5 nationwide blend to E10.

“My vision for the council is to be on the forefront of promotion of new uses for our products,” LeGrand said. “I truly believe that value-added exports are an excellent way to increase the export of grains in all forms.

“We look forward to seeing what is in store as the U.S. government continues to seek free and fair trade for our products.”

Learn more about USGC at www.grains.org.