By Oliver Griffin
SAO PAULO, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Brazilian corn ethanol producer Inpasa will quickly ramp up exports of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) to China this year, Gustavo Mariano Oliveira, the company’s vice president of trading, said on Friday.
Inpasa produces some 3.3 million metric tons annually of DDGS, a corn ethanol byproduct used in animal feed. The company said on Tuesday it would soon make its first shipment to China.
The company already has contracts to export an additional 250,000 tons of DDGS to China this year and could secure total shipments of up to 1.5 million tons in 2026, Oliveira said in an interview, adding that China could account for up to half of all DDGS exports in short order.
“Without a doubt, China should be the main player in a very short time, perhaps accounting for 40% to 50% of our exports,” Oliveira said.
Corn ethanol production has exploded in Brazil, which had long been dominated by sugarcane biofuels. The growth has been aided by sales of DDGS, which have found ready customers in beef and other meat industries in Brazil and abroad.
Strained relations between top commodity buyer China and the U.S. have also created opportunities for Brazilian producers. Last year, China authorized imports of Brazilian sorghum at a time when U.S. exports to the Asian nation fell.
“An opportunity arose from the situation last year,” Oliveira said. “It’s a great opportunity, and we see this door that has been opened as one that should remain open in the coming years.”
China is far from the only destination open to Brazil’s DDGS exports, he said.
“We have been seeing more demand from Europe,” Oliveira said. Spain is now the biggest buyer of Inpasa’s DDGS, but more countries are showing interest, he said.
“We’ve seen a growing appetite from Italy for our product, and from some other countries that we’ll likely open markets with later this year,” he said.
(Reporting by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Paul Simao)
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