Vietnam Reopens Its Market to US DDGs

Vietnam has notified the U.S. it will resume imports of U.S. distillers dried grains (DDGs) after having suspended its imports of the U.S. product in December 2016, USDA and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced Wednesday.Prior to the December 2016 action, Vietnam was the third largest market for U.S. DDGs with shipments of more than $230 million in 2016. Vietnam halted the imports after it reported quarantine pests in shipments.Besides DDGs, the two U.S. agencies said this also opens the way for corn and wheat shipments, which were restricted due to previous treatment requirements.The DDG issue was among those raised by President Donald Trump when Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited Washington in May along with USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue and USTR Robert Lighthizer. Following the series of meetings, the two governments released a joint statement pledging to work closely together to resolve the DDGs issue, USTR said.“This is great news and I am pleased that the U.S. exporters will once again be able to ship DDGs to Vietnam, which is one of the fastest-growing global markets for U.S. agriculture,” said Perdue. "Expanding markets around the world can only help American agriculture.”