Page 30 - Export or Bust eBook

(distiller’s dried grains with solubles), Sanchez tells sthat the current tension over TPP, NAFTA and the
tit-for-tat tariff threats with China “puts us at a disadvantage.”

Sanchez explains that the grain buyers and end-users he’s meeting with across Asia ask questions about
“trade conflicts with China” and how it might undermine the U.S. reputation as a reliable supplier. He
says one result is that it’s now “harder for me to serve my customers and let them know that our
farmers back home care about their business and care about their profitability.”

Sanchez sees immediate opportunities to significantly increase ag exports if the U.S. can resolve its
current trade disputes and focus instead on “looking at growth markets like Southeast Asia, with
Vietnam number one in growth, followed by Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia.” Based in Kuala

Lumpur, Malaysia, he expects a large share of the growth to come from his 13-nation territory and its

677 million consumers.

As a success story that shows far greater exports are within reach, Sanchez points out that Vietnam
imported 153,000 metric tons of DDGS in January and February this year, nearly half of the DDGS
Vietnam imported for all of 2017. He expects Vietnam to import at least 700,000 tons this year. This
surge could make Vietnam one of the top importers of DDGS from the U.S. in 2018.

Sanchez says one key to growth is continuing USDA’s FMD and MAP funding to help provide “an
active presence on the ground and be able to service the developing market.” This year, Sanchez’s
work has included bringing in U.S. experts like South Dakota State University swine specialist Bob
Thaler for the seminars his office has hosted recently in in Vietnam and Thailand. These seminars are
aimed at “demonstrating the transparency of the U.S. marketing system” and “the long-term U.S.
production capacity.”

Calling for more trade agreements, Sanchez says that “whether it’s bilateral or regional, we really need
to step up our presence here because as we speak, other countries are taking advantage of us in some of
the markets, they’re signing agreements and we’re not being part of those.” Citing the Black Sea region,
Argentina and Brazil in particular, he warns: “We have competition, our customers have options.
They can originate grains from other parts of the world … We don’t need any additional
impediments from not having trade agreements in place.”

Success in the Philippines

USW Regional VP Joseph Sowers. Source: U.S. Based in Manila, USW Regional VP for the
Wheat Associates Philippines and South Korea Joseph Sowers is keenly
aware of the aggressive competition. He says it’s an
“uphill battle” to convince buyers to opt for premium-
priced but better performing U.S. wheat. He also
points to significant gains.

In the Philippines, Sowers says, “We have a
program here where we invest in increasing
consumption of wheat-based foods. And we’ve
done it. We can take some credit for helping
increase per capita consumption from 23 to 29
kilos per person over the past five years. Multiply
those 6 kilograms times 100 million people and that’s

28 www.Agri-Pulse.com