Exports
As Trump delays tariffs, he says China wants to buy US ag exports
Subtract China and the soy export market goes flat
The big customer for U.S. animal protein: Mexico
Farmers grill Perdue for details about resumed exports to China
During a day trip to North Carolina, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was thanked on Monday for the billions of dollars the Trump administration is sending to farmers to mitigate the impact of trade war with China. But he was also prodded for a resumption in exports.
Pork, the meat-export leader
Large domestic hog production and low market prices will propel a larger share of U.S. pork onto the world market in 2019, according to USDA economists. In the monthly Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook, they estimate more than 23 percent of pork production will be exported, up from 22.7 percent this year.
Slow going on trade, no aid for small business, says Lighthizer
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told senators on Thursday that “hopefully, we are in the finishing stages” of negotiating the new NAFTA. At the same time, he said Japan is balking at writing a trade agreement with the United States and the administration has yet to start talks with other Pacific Rim nations as an alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
ADM chief sees opportunity for U.S. ethanol in China
China's plan to move to a 10 percent blend of ethanol into its gasoline supply will be a boon for U.S. ethanol exports, said ADM chief executive Juan Luciano. Agrimoney says that Luciano told investors that China could need imports of 8 million tons a year by 2020 to satisfy the E10 target because of the nation's longer-term fuel strategy.
NAFTA gives Canada an unfair edge in ag trade, says Perdue
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue listed Canada's controls over dairy and poultry imports during a Fox Business interview in saying "some of the things left out of NAFTA" give Canada an unfair advantage in ag trade. At the White House, President Trump said, "It's possible we won't be able to make a deal" and the United States would seek a bilateral pact with Canada or Mexico.
U.S. farm income noses upward after three years of declines
Commodity prices are still in a trough but U.S. farm income is on the rise for the first time since 2013 because producers are sending more crops and livestock to market than initially expected, said the USDA. It forecast net cash farm income, a measure of liquidity, of $100.4 billion this year, far stronger than the February forecast of $93.5 billion, but only three-fourths of the record set in 2013.
Russia to be world’s largest wheat exporter for first time, edging U.S.
In the three-way race for leadership in the world wheat market, Russia will be No. 1 in the current marketing year, says USDA's Grain: World Markets and Trade report. It's the first time Russia would take the top spot; the United States was No. 1 in 2016/17 and the EU led in 2015/16.
Is a slowdown in U.S. soy, corn and poultry sales to Mexico a signal of the future?
"Faltering trust between trading partners on both sides of the border" may be slowing U.S. farm export to Mexico as the nations prepare to renegotiate NAFTA , says Farm Futures. It says that U.S. exports of corn, soybeans and chicken meat to Mexico declined during the first four months of this year, a period when the new Trump administration floated the idea of a border tax and when U.S.-Mexico relations soured.
Lighthizer says there’s no deadline for the new NAFTA
The Trump administration has a target for beginning the renegotiation of NAFTA — mid-August — but there is no deadline for wrapping up discussions, assuming that talks are fruitful, said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. "We're going to get a good agreement, one that is transformative," Lighthizer told the Senate Finance Committee.
Canada beats U.S. in pork sales to China
After almost completely removing the growth-promoting drug ractopamine from its pigs, Canada is outpacing the U.S. in pork sales to China, where the drug is banned. Canada has only beat out the U.S. in pork sales a handful of times in the last 20 years, says Reuters.
Disease, drought, government. Pick the existential threat to farmers.
For the second time in a week, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told lawmakers that government is a greater threat to U.S. farmers than drought or disease. And in nearly the same words at two House hearings, he offered the might of the U.S. government to boost farm income through larger food and ag exports.
Perdue meets dairy farmers to discuss options on Canada milk trade
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who applauded tariffs on Canadian timber as U.S. payback in a milk-trade dispute with its northern neighbor, discussed possible solutions with dairy leaders during a session at USDA headquarters. President Trump has twice raised the issue of U.S. ultra-filtered milk exports to the highest level of binational attention, at one point saying "we don't want to be taken advantage of by other countries — and that's stopping and stopping fast."
California growers must now compete with Argentinian lemons
American citrus growers are angry over the Trump administration’s decision to lift an import ban on lemons from northwestern Argentina. “We were completely blindsided,” said Joel Nelsen, president of the California Citrus Mutual.
Farm groups urge Trump to preserve NAFTA
The Trump administration is mulling a draft executive order to pull the U.S. out of NAFTA, says a senior White House official, according to Reuters. NAFTA renegotiations were expected to start in August, but a withdrawal by the U.S. could rush the timeline.
Will Trump’s America First policy make COOL great again?
Under the threat of $1 billion in retaliatory tariffs by Canada and Mexico, Congress repealed a law 16 months ago that required packages of beef and and pork to say where the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. Activist agricultural groups say a revival of the labels would be a complement to President Trump's America First policy and his complaint of unfair practices by U.S. neighbors.