According to new surveys of overseas grain buyers who attended the Export Exchange this fall, the conference hosted by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) and the Renewable Fuels Assn. (RFA) is already paying dividends – to the tune of nearly a half-billion dollars’ worth of grain and ethanol co-product sales.

After the conference, buyers and end users were asked if they made purchase agreements with sellers and how much volume was purchased. In total, attendees reported sales of approximately 2.6 million metric tons of grains and co-products worth $460 million traded either at the conference or immediately before or after it.

The top grain traded during the two-day conference was corn, with 924,500 mt collectively exchanged, followed by dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), with 875,000 mt exchanged. This means buyers at the conference struck deals to purchase an amount of DDGS equivalent to roughly 8% of last year’s total U.S. DDGS exports.

Export Exchange 2016 offered attendees a unique opportunity to meet and build relationships with domestic suppliers of corn, DDGS, sorghum, barley and other commodities. More than 200 international buyers and end users of coarse grains and co-products from more than 35 countries were in Detroit, Mich., for the Oct. 24-26 conference and for related tours of U.S. farms, ethanol plants and export infrastructure as part of USGC trade teams.

“Trade is absolutely critical to U.S. farmers right now, and these sales show that buyers attending Export Exchange 2016 took the buying opportunities very seriously,” said Tom Sleight, USGC president and chief executive officer. “Putting buyers and sellers together (and) building and sustaining relationships with our top global grain buyers have been hallmarks of council activities worldwide. We are thrilled to see how much actual trade was done at the show and in association with it.”

RFA president and CEO Bob Dinneen said the conference and tremendous sales figures show how much of an appetite there is globally for U.S.-produced feed grains and co-products. “It’s no surprise that the top two commodities traded during the conference were corn and DDGS, a co-product of U.S. ethanol production. With a record corn supply anticipated for the 2016-17 marketing year, exports will continue to be essential as we move forward in a global market.”

Other grains traded at the Export Exchange included 25,200 mt of corn gluten, 428, 000 mt of sorghum and 5,000 mt of barley.

The Export Exchange conference, held every two years, provides a forum for continued relationship building among trading partners.