Alfalfa Hay & Forage

US, Australian and Spanish alfalfa and oaten hay by RFV, protein, ADF/NDF and bale press

Alfalfa hay is sold on a forage analysis, and the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service grades that the export trade quotes are built from it: Supreme is under 27% ADF, under 34% NDF, above 22% crude protein and above 185 relative feed value (RFV); Premium is 27–29% ADF, 34–36% NDF, 20–22% protein and 170–185 RFV; Good is 29–32% ADF, 36–40% NDF, 18–20% protein and 150–170 RFV; Fair is 32–35% ADF, 40–44% NDF, 16–18% protein and 130–150 RFV, all on a dry-matter basis and read together with the visual grade (leaf retention, colour, weeds, mould). Moisture is held to 12–14% at pressing so the bale does not heat in the container, and the bale itself is the product: US export presses double-compress field bales into 25–30 kg or big-bale blocks so that a 40-foot container carries about 24–26 MT; Spanish dehydrated alfalfa comes as dried bales and 6–8 mm pellets; Australian oaten hay is the grass-hay alternative pressed the same way. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 1214.90 (hay and forage) show the USA at 3.97 million MT at an average USD 335/MT, Australia 1.42 million MT at USD 359 (largely oaten hay), Canada 569,000 MT at USD 325, the Netherlands 205,000 MT, Romania 178,000 MT, Italy 114,000 MT and Germany 87,000 MT. USDA FAS data reported by Hay & Forage Grower put total US hay exports in 2025 at 2.7 million MT, down 17% on the year, and alfalfa at 1.747 million MT, down almost 20% and the third annual fall since the 2022 record of 2.847 million MT; China took 730,239 MT (about 42% of US alfalfa exports, down 22%), Japan 329,559 MT, Saudi Arabia 277,987 MT (down 30%) and South Korea 210,746 MT, with US hay to China hit by a 125% tariff during the 2025 dispute. Spain's dehydrated-alfalfa association AEFA reports 2024 exports up 15.3% on the year, with Saudi Arabia taking 121,122 MT of bales and 38,608 MT of pellets in the 2024/25 campaign.

The buyer is a dairy farm or feed centre in Saudi Arabia receiving through Jeddah on the Red Sea, a Chinese dairy group or a Japanese or Korean forage importer, or a camel and horse feed distributor, buying Premium and Supreme alfalfa on a delivered-per-tonne basis with the forage analysis attached, and the questions are RFV, protein and moisture on the certificate and whether the press can hold a monthly container programme. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers double-compressed alfalfa hay, dehydrated alfalfa bales and pellets and oaten hay from US (Pacific Northwest, California, Arizona), Australian and Spanish presses and trader positions against a laboratory forage analysis (crude protein, ADF, NDF, RFV, moisture) and SGS or Intertek inspection of bale weight, colour, mould and foreign matter at the press, with GMO-free and pesticide-residue statements where the destination requires them. Shipments are structured in 40-foot containers on FOB, CFR and CIF terms — a container a week upward for a single farm, programmes of 50–200 containers a month for a dairy group — and in break-bulk Handysize lots of pressed big bales where a receiver has a bulk berth; because CBIL also runs a chartering desk (LaycanDesk), a break-bulk leg can be quoted with the cargo. Send your grade (Supreme, Premium or Good), protein and RFV floors, bale format, monthly container count and discharge port and we will work the press to it.

Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices Danube and Black Sea coaster freight on LaycanDesk.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.