# Sorghum: Overview

Porridge in Africa, feed in America, spirits in China

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/overview/

What this tab covers What the commodity is used for, why, in what volumes and with what alternatives, and its chain from mine or field to end user. Also the latest price moves, top recent news, three things to know, and buttons into each tab.

#### Key uses

| Use | Share | Annual volume | Why this commodity | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Human food: porridges, flatbreads (jowar roti and bhakri in India, injera and kisra in the Horn of Africa), couscous and local beer** | n/a | Nigeria 6.3 Mt, Ethiopia 4.05 Mt, India 3.9 Mt, Sudan 2.9 Mt and Burkina Faso 1.75 Mt of food, seed and industrial use in 2025/26basis | Sorghum yields a crop where maize fails: it tolerates heat and drought, can pause growth in a dry spell and grows on poor soils with little fertiliser. In the Sahel, Sudan, Ethiopia and India's Deccan it is a staple for poor rural households. In India, jowar is now marketed as a gluten-free millet with health appeal under the Shree Anna push. USDA PSD, October 2026 | Maize (where rain or irrigation allows) Pearl millet (bajra) in drier zones Wheat and rice (urban diets, India's public distribution) Teff (Ethiopia) |
| **Food, seed and industrial use combined (world)** | 58.1% | 36.8 Mt in 2025/26basis | Most sorghum is eaten where it is grown, as porridge, flatbread or beer in Africa and India, and never enters world trade. FSI also covers seed, Chinese baijiu distilling and US ethanol, which are shown separately below, so this row is the umbrella total. USDA PSD, October 2026 | Maize Millets Wheat |
| **Animal feed (cattle, pigs, poultry)** | 41.9% | 26.5 Mt in 2025/26; China 7.4 Mt, Brazil 5.9 Mt, Mexico 3.8 Mt, US 3.0 Mtbasis | Grain sorghum has close to maize's feeding value and usually trades at a discount to it, so feed mills in Mexico, China, Brazil and the US Plains switch in when the price is right. It suits dryland farms in Texas, Kansas and Brazil's second-crop (safrinha) season. USDA PSD, October 2026 | Maize Barley Wheat (feed grade) Cassava chips |
| **Chinese baijiu distilling and feed from imports** | n/a | China imported 7.2 Mt in 2025/26 (USDA); it took 89.0% of world sorghum imports by value in 2024 ($2.91 bn market)basis | Red sorghum is the traditional base grain of strong-aroma baijiu, and Chinese distillers prize its starch and tannins for flavour. Imported US and Australian sorghum also enters feed when it is cheaper than domestic maize, which makes China's buying very price- and policy-sensitive. USDA PSD, October 2026; UN Comtrade 2024 | Domestic Chinese sorghum (premium baijiu) Maize, barley and imported feed grains |
| **US ethanol and other industrial uses** | n/a | US food, seed and industrial use of 120 million bushels in 2025/26 (about 3.0 Mt), against 116 million bushels fed to livestockbasis | Ethanol plants in Kansas and Texas take sorghum as a starch feedstock alongside maize, and its yield of ethanol per tonne is similar. Low-carbon fuel rules can reward dryland sorghum. USDA WASDE, October 2026 | Maize (main US ethanol feedstock) Sugarcane (Brazil, India) |
| **Forage, silage and sweet sorghum** | n/a | n/a basis | Sorghum and sorghum-sudangrass hybrids regrow after cutting and give large fodder yields on little water. In India jowar stover (kadbi) is a key dry fodder for cattle, which is why farmers value tall varieties even with lower grain yield. Qualitative; no quantified source found | Maize silage Fodder oats and berseem (India) Napier grass |

 Shares are of world domestic use in 2025/26 from USDA PSD (October 2026): FSI 58.1% and feed 41.9%. The rows above FSI and below it break the totals down by country; they overlap with the two share rows.

#### From field to user

1. **Seed and sowing** Hybrids dominate in the US, Australia and Mexico; open-pollinated and local varieties remain common in Africa and India, where farmers keep their own seed.
2. **Growing season** Mostly rain-fed. India grows about two-thirds of its jowar in the post-rainy rabi season on stored soil moisture: 3.19 Mt of 4.96 Mt in 2024-25 (Ministry of Agriculture).
3. **Harvest and drying** Combine harvest in the US and Australia; hand harvest of heads in smallholder systems. World output was 63.1 Mt in 2025/26 (USDA PSD).
4. **Storage** Dry grain stores well; households in dry regions keep it as food security. US ending stocks were 35 million bushels (about 0.9 Mt) in 2025/26 (WASDE, Oct 2026).
5. **Export logistics** US sorghum moves from Kansas and Texas to Gulf ports; Australia ships from Queensland. US exports were 206 million bushels (about 5.2 Mt) in 2025/26 (WASDE).
6. **Processing** Dry milling and decortication for flour, feed milling, distilling for baijiu, and ethanol plants in the US Plains.
7. **End users** Households in Africa and India, feed mills in Mexico, China and Brazil, Chinese distillers, and US ethanol plants.

#### Price movement snapshot 2026-10-25
 Sorghum (World Bank monthly) 190 $/mt Month 2020-08 1 week **no daily price** 6 months **+15.5%** World production 64.3 m tonnes, 2024 Largest producer United States 13.59% of world

#### Three things to know

- World sorghum output was 64.3 Mt in 2024, against 56.8 Mt in 1990: almost flat over 34 years (FAOSTAT).
- The US grew 13.6% of the world's sorghum in 2024, but Nigeria, Sudan and Ethiopia together grew 24.9% (FAOSTAT).
- In 1974 the big grain merchants handled 90% of Australia's grain sorghum exports (Morgan).

#### Top recent news snapshot 2026-10-25, last 30 days

- [US Farmers Face New Crop Challenge From Brazil’s Sorghum Boom](https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMisgFBVV95cUxNVEhTQlRlM2hNNVFEUFhyc2Y1VGNGcTBXQmlhLVVNVkFZOTdnR1M5NUtGbTBJT3g4V3BQMVBzWjhMLVpNZXc0NExIZW5ZcXc2UjhrLVNpekw1dUoyQTRPV1AxazJERXV1dmpYeHRMRTh5dTBXVDk4bGhNR1Uyai1IcFJydHNWU0NzQXRhdVZwcERhWXdfN0NGazhKREFqTUVud280Y0xpMUFIRUZqTU9raW53?oc=5)Bloomberg.com · 2026-10-13
- [Sorghum acres fall below year ago levels](https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMigAFBVV95cUxOZ3owVzVSZmlERnZkbkpFVFVWbmQzaE8tTm05T29ZNUZQakY0Q2VFVG1GeWhDWHNjaEMyOHNTSFJEb0l3cnhWdTBUN3Y4b1AzeWJnRjFMV3VreVlybjdQdlphdGJEdGMwVXFndlVHMGxMS3VpbVBaaGJhcVBwM0tzWA?oc=5)Brownfield Ag News · 2026-10-24
- [USDA increases sorghum yield guess](https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMieEFVX3lxTE14SkkzallZaDNMYmt0Q2kzcUJSVTFZXzFTWlMzakNiZV9KZW1NcHFwQlhJRmgzRG9CYlN4SFFTU0I0WXNJdXZDQjFIZmV2MlpWWDJsWHNQNVl2OFdJcW84Qk1IN3pnajFaU3E5d3Y0c042S2ZnYVViRA?oc=5)Brownfield Ag News · 2026-10-25

#### Read the tabs
[Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/extraction/)[Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/production/)[Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/stocks/)[Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/cycles/)[Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/trading/)[Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/movement/)[Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/criticality/)[Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/characteristics/)[Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/emissions/)

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sorghum/links/index.md)