WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- U.S. corn availability and biotechnology were the focus of talks among U.S. Grains Council (USGC) and National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) representatives and Japanese officials during a joint trade mission to Japan last week.
Participating in the mission were: USGC Chairman Vic Miller, USGC President and CEO Ken Hobbie, USGC Senior Director of International Operations Mike Callahan, NCGA President Ken McCauley and NCGA CEO Rick Tolman.
With recent concerns about corn supply, Japanese customers had several questions for the NCGA and USGC officials. USGC and NCGA met with representatives from the Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, the Japan Feed Trade Association, the Japan Feed Manufacturers Association and many other groups.
"We reassured Japanese officials the United States will have enough corn to meet their needs, and we are committed to supplying our export customers," said McCauley. "Japan is the number one market for exported corn, and we will produce enough corn to meet that market's demands."
Miller added that the mission came at an excellent time. "Our customers appreciated our willingness to discuss the reality of the supply and demand situation regarding U.S. feed grains," he said. "We have been able to share with them the facts regarding the growing production of ethanol in the United States, and the impact it will have on supplies of grain to meet our export customers' needs."
The group also discussed the growing importance of biotechnology for U.S. corn production to meet future export demand. NCGA and USGC applauded Japan's approval process. Japan is the only country specifically named in NCGA's Biotechnology Position Paper. NCGA policy requires Japanese approval prior to commercialization in the United States. This is because of the importance of the Japanese market, and the fact that Japan has a transparent working approval process.
"Both the United States and Japan are clear examples of the importance of having transparent and reasonable approval systems," said Tolman. "U.S. corn growers thank Japan for being a leader in recognizing the importance of biotechnology and timely approvals."
Hobbie stressed the importance of face-to-face meetings with our number one customer. "We have continuously seen acres planted with biotechnology crops increase," he said. "We currently plan to return to Japan with NCGA in June to provide them an update of U.S. corn planting and production capabilities and to show them our deep commitment to this valuable export market."
The USGC contingent continued on to Korea, China and Taiwan to visit with U.S. grain customers and evaluate USGC programs abroad.
The National Corn Growers Association's mission is to create and increase opportunities for corn growers. NCGA represents more than 32,000 members and 46 affiliated state organizations and hundreds of thousands of growers who contribute to state checkoff programs. For more information on NCGA, log on to www.ncga.com.
The U.S. Grains Council is a private, non-profit partnership of farmers and agribusinesses committed to building and expanding international markets for U.S. barley, corn, grain sorghum and their products. The Council is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 10 international offices that oversee programs in more than 50 countries. Financial support from our private industry members, including state checkoffs, agribusinesses, state entities and others, triggers federal matching funds from the USDA resulting in a combined program value of more than $25 million.