China Makes a Historic U.S. Sorghum Purchase Amid Rebounding Demand

U.S. sorghum growers have received a significant boost as the USDA reported that China made a historic purchase of 32 million bushels - marking the largest U.S. sorghum export sale in history, and far surpassing the record of 23 million bushels set in December 2014, according to the National Sorghum Producers (NSP).

This one transaction accounts for 9 percent of the entire U.S. crop to be sold, and has occurred during a period of 90 days of solid sorghum sales.

This higher demand is believed to be driven by greater needs from livestock feeders, a short crop out of Australia - one of the U.S.’ main competitors on the sorghum market - and possibly Phase I of the trade agreement between the U.S. and China.

Another possible driver of demand is the use of sorghum to make a very popular alcoholic drink in China, however, the bulk of demand is generated from feed buyers that find sorghum easier to source than corn since there are no quotas or requirements to pass GMO inspections.

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