A plentiful corn crop flowing from Iowa’s fields is good news for corn growers and the Iowa economy – and for customers and consumers in 52 nations around the world.

In addition to supplying food, feed, and fuel for Americans, a significant amount of U.S. corn – almost one out of every five bushels in the 2007 market year – went to overseas markets, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).  Iowa provided a large share of corn exports: An estimated 875 million bushels left the state, much of it destined for international markets.

Total U.S. corn exports for 2006/07 were well above 2.1 billion bushels, and there are signs that export demand will be strong again in the new market year. 

Already, foreign customers have booked more than half a billion bushels of corn purchases.

That’s a 9% increase from the same time last year and 150% above 2005 levels. 
The USDA’s latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) projects U.S. exports of 2.15 billion bushels in the 2007 market year.
 “We know that it takes strong demand in all three usage areas – livestock feeding, processing, and exports – to keep up with our ability to produce corn,” says Vic Miller, a former Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) director and immediate past chairman of the U.S. Grains Council.

“This year strong exports have contributed to the good corn prices we’ve seen, and the growth in pork exports is definitely helping Iowa’s hog producers.  We’re seeing our checkoff investment in export development pay off every time we sell corn.”

So who is using all that corn?

Sales to Asia slacked off about 10% in 2006/07, while shipments within the western hemisphere posted a 22% increase.  Mexico, already the number two market for U.S. corn, set a new record for corn imports with purchases of more than 350 million bushels, a 36% increase.  

Colombia, the sixth largest U.S. corn customer, bought more than 130 mbu, a 22% increase in purchases and another record high level of sales.  The Caribbean and Central America, once a minor factor in U.S. exports, took a combined 200 mbu of corn.  U.S. exports to Central America have increased 28% in the last five years, and shipments to the Caribbean have grown by 31%.

Still to be tallied are the growing exports of distillers dried grains, a feed coproduct from the U.S. ethanol industry.  However, shipments for the first six months of 2007 included 47,000 metric tons (mt) to South Korea, 49,000 mt to Japan, 85,000 mt to Taiwan, and more than 334,000 mt to Mexico.    

As combines hit the fields this fall, it’s clear that Iowa’s corn growers are again meeting the needs of export customers just as they meet the needs of all their customers.