Grass is greener for Uruguay’s grain

China’s General Administration of Customs has announced it is now allowing imports of Uruguay’s corn and barley, from the 18th of February, as long as the cargo meets the country’s quarantine requirements. The Asian country has diversified grain sources since trade relations with the US and Australia went sour. China approved imports of corn and barley from Kazakhstan last November.

Currently China has a 25% import duty on US corn and sorghum products, a retaliation to Washington’s protectionist policies. Although both countries arrived at a truce on December 1, the tariffs on US grain are still active, stalling shipments.

After a 14-month hiatus, Uruguay exported 185,111 tons of wheat between January 1 and February 12 this year, according to the data from the National Customs Directorate, fetching US$41.2m in export revenue. The exports have benefitted from an improvement in wheat prices, which increased from US$212 per ton in December to US$233 in February.

DatamarNews reported the Uruguayan government plans to construct a 300 km railroad to connect the city of Durazno with Montevideo port that may facilitate grain shipments in the region.

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