U.S. Livestalk Companies Importing Corn from Brazil

With the price of corn in the U.S. having soared, livestock companies are looking for alternatives to feed their animals and chickens.

According to Reuters, Prestage Farms Inc. based in North Carolina, has ordered 750 tons of corn from Brazil, to be delivered by agribusiness giants Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) and Bunge Ltd (BG).

These imports are the largest order of its kind on record.

Senior Vice President John Prestage said, "As it got drier and drier, we starting thinking, 'We'd better start looking around.' So then we really went to work with the South American connections."

Prestage Farms raises about 170,000 sows and 15 million turkeys, which overall consume around 50 million bushels (1.27 million tons) of corn annually.

The first of approximately 15 shipments of about 50,000 tons of corn each is scheduled to arrive at the Port of Wilmington, North Carolina, next week. That will continue for a period of six months.

Also looking to import corn from Brazil for its chickens is Pilgrims Pride Corp.

Even after delivery costs Brazilian corn costs about 5 percent less than corn from the Midwest part of the U.S.