agricultural exports
Larger ag exports to China and Mexico, countries under Trump scrutiny
Two countries that account for one-third of U.S. farm exports, China and Mexico, are the main reasons for a slightly higher forecast for ag exports this fiscal year, says USDA. Exports are now estimated at $134 billion, up $1 billion from the August estimate, with sales to China and Mexico up $300 million apiece.
Groups get $200 million to build markets for U.S. ag exports
The Agriculture Department awarded $200 million through two programs to help 70 agricultural organizations build overseas markets for U.S. farm exports, which generate 20 cents of each $1 in net cash farm income. Most of the money, $173.5 million, will flow through the cost-sharing Market Access Program (MAP).
After voting heavily for Trump, rural America wants to change his mind
President-elect Donald Trump carried almost all of the farm states, from the Carolinas across the Midwest into the Plains, rolling up a 2-to-1 margin against Democrat Hillary Clinton with promises of lower taxes and less regulation. Farm groups, with a politically conservative membership, said they hoped to educate him on the importance of exports for farm prosperity.
EWG says U.S. farmers feed the (developed) world
A refrain among U.S. farmers and processors is that bountiful America helps feed a hungry world with a population forecast to increase by one-third, to 9.7 billion people, by mid-century. The actuality is that U.S. farm exports "go to countries that can afford to pay for them," and less than 1 percent go to the world's hungriest nations, says the Environmental Working Group.
U.S. cotton exports to rise by 25 percent this marketing year
The United States will continue its run as the world's largest cotton exporter during 2016/17 with shipments up by 26 percent from the previous marketing year, said the International Cotton Advisory Committee. Higher yields and a 20 percent expansion in U.S. plantings will assure an abundant supply for shipment overseas.
Farm groups keep up pressure for TPP vote
Congressional leaders have said repeatedly that they won't call the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement for a vote in the post-election session, but farm groups are undeterred in pushing for action, said Feedstuffs. "The TPP has huge potential benefits for soybean farmers," said Richard Wilkins, president of the American Soybean Association, both in exports and in higher domestic demand for livestock feed to satisfy the growing foreign demand for meat.
U.S. market-development programs have big impact overseas
Two USDA programs that share the cost of developing markets overseas for U.S. farm exports have a return on investment of 28 to 1, says a study by Informa Economics and released by U.S. Wheat Associates. The study said the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program boosted farm export revenue by $8.2 billion annually from 1977-2014.
U.S. heads toward record soybean exports with bumper crop
The record-setting U.S. soybean crop is even bigger than expected, up nearly 2 percent from USDA's previous forecast to an estimated 4.269 billion bushels. With farm-gate prices at the second-lowest level in a decade, soybean exports will exceed 2 billion bushels for the first time, according to the monthly WASDE report.
China’s the top market for rallying U.S. farm exports, USDA says
Record exports won’t cure U.S. peanut surplus
U.S. farmers are growing peanuts faster than the nation, or the world, can consume them, say USDA economists, who estimate the peanut supply will be a record 9.5 billion pounds following this year's harvest. Thanks to rising demand, led by China and Vietnam, exports are forecast for a record 1.5 billion pounds — one-fourth of this year's crop — but the U.S. peanut surplus could continue to grow.
China’s surging demand for soy is cutting into U.S. stockpile
Despite a run of record soybean harvests in the U.S., surging demand from China and other importers is expected to cause the U.S. stockpile to drop below the previous year's level for the first time in three years, Bloomberg reports. "Since 2005, China’s imports of the commodity have more than tripled, and it now buys more than 60 percent of the world’s exports," the news service says. "The demand is primarily driven by its livestock sector as a growing middle class consumes more meat."
Brazil, new No. 2 in corn exports, challenges U.S.
The agricultural giant of South America, Brazil, is altering the world corn market in ways that challenge the United States, the No. 1 grower and exporter, say USDA economists Ed Allen and Constanza Valdes. Brazil is now the second-largest corn exporter and its shipping season coincides with the U.S. harvest, which could mean lower market prices at the moment the U.S. crop cascades onto the market.