The recent trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom was good news for U.S. agriculture. However, that doesn’t mean the search for new markets is over.
Krista Swanson, chief economist for the National Corn Growers Association, says India presents a remarkable export opportunity for U.S. corn growers.
“We have more opportunities, and we have been focused with corn on the opportunity in India. With its 1.4 billion consumers, it could be a major market for corn growers.”
India would be a great market for U.S. corn, but there are challenges to overcome.
“India is a big market for corn, but they have some restrictions on genetically modified corn. So, it’s not a market that we can access, not because of tariffs, specifically, but this is an example of a nation that has some of these, what we call non-tariff trade barriers, where they have regulations that prevent that, and so, no. This is an opportunity to open the door to potentially $235 million worth of U.S. corn exports.”
If the U.S. can overcome the non-tariff barriers, Swanson said, there’s a lot of room for growth for corn exports into the Indian market.
Over the last few years, we have only exported two percent of what they’re totally importing into India. You know, the U.S. is only filling about two percent of that market. And so, there’s just huge potential if we could get over some of those barriers, and then there are also opportunities for ethanol and DDGs.”