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India’s price supports limit corn, soy Imports — sorghum could benefit

An ag economist says a roll-back on Indian tariffs for U.S. sorghum could help diversify market access.  

Allen Featherstone with Kansas State University says the country has strong price support for corn and soybeans limiting imports of those commodities. But, he tells Brownfield, that doesn’t exist for sorghum. “Certainly there is not as much sorghum production India as there is for corn and soybeans. With that, reducing the tariffs would be good for the possibility of moving sorghum into India.”

India sets a government-backed minimum support price for corn and soybeans each year to protect farmers from falling market prices, though actual government purchases of those crops are limited. India is the fifth largest producer of those crops.

He says it’s unclear how much market share the U.S. will gain. “The Indian government has to balance strong support for different commodities where they have a minimum price well above the world market. Bringing U.S. goods in there could offset what production Indian farmers do which politically would be an issue.”

Featherstone says the country needs more animal feed. “One of the things that they’re looking at is certainly feed for poultry productions. Particularly chickens, and there would be a possibility for sorghum to provide some of that need.”

Featherstone says while increase U.S. sorghum exports is good news, he’s concerned that it will be limited.

Allen Featherstone: