2013 U.S. CORN QUALITY WAS RELATIVELY HIGH SAYS REPORT

Lindsay Mitchell

Apr 08, 2014  |  Today's News

International buyers will be able to confirm the quality of U.S. corn using the Corn Export Cargo Quality Report released by the U.S. Grains Council this week.

The report details the quality of corn being exported from the U.S. using data gathered by the Federal Grain Inspection Service at export loading facilities around the country.  It gives buyers an expectation of what they might receive when the buy U.S. corn and provides confidence in our product which increases U.S. corn exports.

The corn from the 2013 crop year was overall very good.  Average test weight was 57.3 pounds per bushel which was lower than the previous two years, but about 83 percent of all samples were above the limit for U.S. No. 1.

Broken, Cracked, Foreign Material (BCFM) test was very near last year’s number at 2.9 percent and total damage was lower at 1.7 percent compared to 2012’s 2.0 percent.

Average moisture was 14.5 percent and higher than in the previous two years.  Average harvest moisture was also higher in 2013 than in 2012 and 2011 indicating more artificial drying was needed for the 2013 crop than for the previous two crops.

All of the export samples tested below the FDA action level of 20 parts per billion for aflatoxins.  A significantly higher proportion of the export samples tested below 5 parts per billion aflatoxin than in the 2012 and 2011 samples.

To view the full report, click here.

Illinois Corn is excited to read these results.  As we converse with international buyers, we still had countries bringing up poor quality from 2009 as late as last year.  Following 2009, we’ve had drought corn and alfatoxin concerns; this report is a high point in the past several years when it comes to our trade relationships with other countries.

Being able to offer high quality, low cost corn for sale will certainly provide an incentive for our export opportunities to increase in 2014.