Algeria imports US corn products for first time

The US Grains Council (USGC) has made its first high-value import into Algeria this September since successfully removing the value added and custom taxes on all feed imports to the country last year.

It was Sarl Nutrimag, an Algerian commercial importer, which has made the first ever purchase of US distiller's dried grains (DDGS) and corn gluten feed (CGF).

 According to Cary Sifferath, USGC regional director for the Middle East and Africa, this shipment is ‘one of the beginning steps to a greater future for US DDGS and CGF in the Algerian market’.

‘Through our continuous efforts and support from our allies, products like DDGS and CGF were included in a list of feed ingredients that have had their import duties and VAT reduced to zero until August 2014,’ Sifferath adds. ‘This shipment will open the door for end-users in Algeria to buy US corn co-products in the future.’

Algeria is the second-largest country in North Africa and is the second-largest importer of feed grains on the continent after Egypt.