Peru imports first DDGS shipment since 2007

Peru has resumed importing DDGS after shipments stopped in 2007, according to the US Grains Council (USGC).

The four-year dry spell ended at the beginning of 2011 when a 5,000-tonne load with freight on board (FOB) value of $1 million (€723,035) arrived during the first week of January.

Imports to the nation ceased following a misclassification of the product by the Peruvian government four years ago. Due to negotiations between the Peruvian government and the US agricultural attaché in Peru, the issue was only resolved in 2010.

Peru's largest poultry company San Fernando will purchase this most recent shipment. In 2010 it imported over 600,000 tonnes of corn and soybean products with 43% originating from the US. The company is currently working to formulate DDGS into its poultry rations with a target inclusion rate of 6%.

'The council has been promoting DDGS use to San Fernando since 2002 when the council had its first regional co-product promotion activity in Panama,' says Kurt Shultz, USGC director for Latin America and the Caribbean region. 'It's good to see the doors are now open once again for imports.'

Shultz will meet with San Fernando and other potential importers and end-users in Peru and Ecuador next week in an effort to expand opportunities for US DDGS in the two countries.