Ahmed Abdelrahim, Al Monairy for Corn Products in Egypt learn firsthand about U.S. corn production at Dwight Mork’s corn farm in Minnesota.
Nesrine Rekik Zayani learns about long-term purchasing strategies for U.S. coarse grains at Northern Crop Institute’s (NCI’s) short course.
Buyers and a North Dakota State University graduate student discuss a simulated corn-trading exercise to buy 45,000 metric tons (1.7 million bushels) of corn per month for the next six months. (From left: Younes Essalehi, from CasaGrains in Morocco; Oussama Belouafi, from Alf Sahel in Morocco; Ahmed Abdelrahim from Al Monairy for Corn Products in Egypt).
Ramesh Nair from Almarai in Saudi Arabia works on a simulated corn trading exercise. Ramesh and his company are major buyers of U.S. corn in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their large dairy and poultry operations.
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The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) hosted a team of up-and-coming procurement managers and directors of Middle East and North African (MENA) grain buying companies in the United States this week to see firsthand the advantages of purchasing U.S. coarse grains and co-products.
Council efforts in the MENA region are focused on maximizing the U.S. competitive advantage for corn, sorghum and co-products by ensuring that importers are informed on U.S. crop availability and pricing through trade servicing efforts and teams like the one.
The team’s visit to the U.S. Grain Belt provided the buyers with an improved understanding of U.S. corn quality, the grain marketing system and how to get the ingredients they most want.
Additional photos are available here.