Texas sorghum farmers find market in China
Grain can be used instead of corn to feed nation’s swine and poultry
Since 2011, when Texas growers made forays into China to show how sorghum could be used to feed swine and poultry, sales to one of the world’s largest market has skyrocketed.
SINTON — The 14 grain traders from across China stood under a shade tent on Charles Ring’s farm outside of town, listening with interest as Ring shared how his land came into the family three generations ago and how planting decisions were made each year according to a balance of anticipated soil moisture and market demand.
It was when Ring touched on price that interest piqued into engagement, with calculators whipped out of pockets and murmurings in Mandarin coming to the translator in rapid fire. What did the hundredweight price mean per bushel? Where did trucking and freight costs come in? What were the input costs, and when were they subtracted? How much of the current crop had Ring sold? How much profit came back to Ring?
Five years ago, Ring wouldn’t have imagined his wife and mother-in-law cooking up pounds of potatoes and green beans, his son loading up the giant backyard smoker with beef brisket and sausages, their daughter packaging gift bags of locally made pecan pralines — all to entertain Chinese guests on a mission to buy grain sorghum.
But since around 2011, when Texas growers made forays to China to show how sorghum could be used instead of corn to feed swine and poultry, sales of sorghum to one of the world’s largest markets have skyrocketed. U.S. sorghum exports to China went from nothing in 201112 to nearly $1.5 billion for 201516. Corn exports to China during the same period plunged, from more than $1.5 billion in 2011-12 to $69.4 million now.
Corn at the time was trading at record highs, and with the Chinese reluctant to buy a product that was genetically modified, there was an urgency to find livestock feed. Unlike corn, sorghum is non-GMO, and it grows well in the Raymondville clay soil that characterizes Texas’ Coastal Bend, as well as in the heat of the Rio Grande Valley and in plains areas up through Kansas.
“You have to move quickly once you get the opening,” said Bobby Nedbalek, a Sinton grower and board director for the National Sorghum Producers. “And that’s exactly what happened with grain sorghum organizations. We were prepared when the opportunity
came, and that’s what has made things come together so quickly.”
The U.S. last year exported about 339 million bushels of sorghum to 11 foreign countries, for about $1.6 billion in export value. China was the No. 1 buyer.
The Chinese now import more sorghum than any other grain, about half of the U.S. crop. They use it to feed swine, the nation’s most popular protein, as well as ducks and chickens. It’s also used to make a sorghum flour for human consumption, as well as to make a clear grain alcohol known as baiju.
As he waited his turn to ride in the cab of a John Deere harvester, Mingyu Chan, a sorghum buyer from the southern China city of Xiamen, said he was struck by how much uncertainty the U.S. farmers grappled with.
“Before coming to the U.S., I had a little bit of understanding about how the U.S. farmer is different from the Chinese farmer because they own the land, use a lot of machinery. So in my mind, I think it’ s going to be easier,” he said through a translator. “But once you come here, after talking to farmers about their profitability, the amount of time they work throughout the year… the profitability is not as high as what you would expect. The farmers are trying so hard to earn a little bit from every little bushel.”
For farmers like Nedbalek,
Chinese demand is helping buffer prices driven down by a global glut of grain.
“If they were not in the market, we would have a train wreck for our market prices, ”he said.
San Patricio and Nueces counties, which are the top sorghum-producing counties in Texas, have the added advantage of being near the port of Corpus Christi and ships that can carry the product across the world.
Most Coastal Bend farmers plant about even amounts of cotton and sorghum on dry land, saving what small amounts of irrigated land they have for corn.
The cotton and sorghum are perfect partners to rotate, Nedbalek explained, which allows for a better blend of herbicides and keeps the soil from wearing out.
Price swings have to be drastic for them to change the planting balance, Nedbalek said, and with the bumper global grain supply and high dollar against other currencies, neither commodity is trading Futures for Texas grain sorghum, which is tied to the price of corn, were trading at $3.77 recently, according to Nedbalek, about half of what it was in 2011.
Even with the harvest underway, growers areover sell, wary that a sudden storm could wipe out most of their yields and leave them overcommitted.
Grower Clarence Chopelas told the visitors he was holding out to the last minute before selling this year’s crop.
“I haven’t sold a cent,” he said. “I’m waiting for the price to go up.”