agricultural exports
China studies impact of sanctioning U.S. soybeans
Days after China began an anti-dumping investigation of imported U.S. sorghum, its Ministry of Commerce met with domestic companies to discuss possible anti-dumping and anti-subsidy reviews of U.S. soybeans, reported Bloomberg.
NAFTA talks could spill into 2019; ag is a key issue
Negotiations over the new NAFTA could run far beyond the March 31 deadline, and perhaps into 2019, said the Washington Post, citing "industry leaders and others close to the negotiations," including the head of Farmers for Free Trade. The U.S. farm and agribusiness sector is pressing loudly for a new pact and against President Trump's threat to withdraw from the treaty.
‘TPP 11’ agree on trade pact a year after U.S. dropped out
A year to the day after President Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, the remaining 11 nations, which include Australia, Japan, Canada, and Mexico, completed a free trade agreement of their own.
Outlook for U.S. farm income: Stable but ‘at much lower levels’
After a three-year plunge, U.S. farm income is stabilizing “at much lower levels than in previous years,” said the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, warning that “growing inventories and trade uncertainty remain the key risks to the outlook.”
Ag trade is vital, says Farm Bureau leader a day before Trump speech
Farmers are among President Trump's staunchest supporters, and they have a response to his threats to scrap NAFTA and rewrite other trade agreements: "Without those global markets, our already-depressed farm economy would go down even more," said Zippy Duvall, leader of the largest U.S. farm group. "Trade should not be a dirty word," Duvall told the estimated 7,000 attendees at American Farm Bureau Federation convention, where Trump is scheduled to speak this afternoon.
U.S. sees ‘much work to do’ on revising trade pact with South Korea
Negotiators are "engaged on their priority areas of interest" for revisions of the U.S.-South Korean free-trade agreement, but the U.S. trade representative's office says there is "much work to do before we can reach an agreement that serves the economic interests of the American people." South Korea is the sixth-largest market for U.S. farm exports; the Trump administration has focused on industrial products such as automobiles.
China wants less trash in U.S. soybean imports
The No. 1 soybean importer in the world, China, is toughening its standards for imported U.S. soybeans, a step that may cut into the U.S. share of the market, said Reuters.
China and U.S. dance a sorghum samba
China is the world’s No. 1 sorghum importer, and its appetite for livestock feed is driving up U.S. sorghum prices, according to the USDA’s monthly Grain: World Markets and Trade report.
U.S. share of Mexico rice market lowest in two decades
Mexico is the largest rice importer in the Western Hemisphere and the top market for U.S. rice, but American dominance is slipping, says USDA's monthly Grains: World Markets and Trade report. South American competitors are gaining ground, especially Uruguay, which is forecast to take 15 percent of the market. The U.S. share, which reached 100 percent after NAFTA took effect, is expected to drop to 80 percent, the smallest since 1996.
Just in case: USDA works on response to NAFTA withdrawal
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said he is “talking with the administration and Congress about some mitigation efforts” if President Trump withdraws the United States from NAFTA, said Politico.
Farm country fears loss of NAFTA and its benefits
President Trump’s repeated threats to scrap NAFTA are creating uncertainty in the Farm Belt, where ag exports are a key source of income, and may undermine U.S. negotiating power in other parts of the world, said farm group leaders.
Up is down in USDA forecast of 2018 ag exports
U.S. farm exports are headed uphill and downhill at the same time in the USDA’s quarterly forecast of overseas sales, the source of one-fifth of farm income. The agency forecast that exports will reach $140 billion in fiscal 2018.
Leave NAFTA nuclear option on the shelf, say U.S. ag groups
Commodity prices will fall and export sales will be lost if the Trump administration withdraws from NAFTA, which generates one-third of U.S. agricultural trade, said U.S. farm and agribusiness groups in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. With farm income down sharply, "2018 would be an especially damaging time to lose America's two largest food and agriculture product markets."
Perdue’s grade after six months as agriculture secretary: A*
On his first day at work, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told employees, "I don't cage too well." So it was apt that the peripatetic Perdue was on the road this week, speaking at the FFA convention in Indianapolis and touring the prairie pothole region of the northern Plains, when he reached his six-month mark at USDA. Ag leaders rate Perdue highly as an ambassador for agriculture and agree with his policy decisions.
Three USDA reports this week will frame the ag sector outlook
In back-to-back-to-back reports, USDA economists will paint a numerical picture of the U.S. farm sector this week, with estimates of farm income, ag exports, and the output, demand and prices for 2018 crops. Most likely, they will add up to large crops, comparatively low grain prices and constrained income heading into the fifth year since the collapse of the commodity boom.
Ag issues contribute to NAFTA impasse as talks head to Canada
Canada stood fast in defense of its supply management system for dairy, and Mexico rejected a U.S. proposal for sanctions on seasonal surges in produce shipments during an inconclusive round of NAFTA talks in Mexico City.
Farm-state senators ask Ross to keep ag exports flowing
Before the administration changes NAFTA, or any other trade agreement, it ought to analyze the impact on agriculture and tell farmers what to expect in the export market, said 18 farm-state senators in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
U.S. farm exports are third-highest ever in FY17
Higher commodity prices and increased demand for U.S.-grown goods fueled an 8 percent rise in farm exports to $140.5 billion in fiscal 2017, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, two weeks ahead of the USDA's usual year-end report. As forecast in August, farm exports were the third-highest on record and ended a two-year decline.
Exports boom as bumper corn crop pulls down farm-gate prices
U.S. corn exports are climbing for the third year in a row and will be the fourth largest on record this trade year, thanks to the mammoth crop now being harvested and falling market prices, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday. The 15.2 billion-bushel crop would be just a hair smaller than the record set last year.