trade war
Producers are given more time to enroll for Trump tariff payments
A ‘growing economic storm in farm country,’ says new House Ag leader
There are many challenges facing rural America, said the new House Agriculture chairman, Collin Peterson. "There is a new farm bill to implement, a growing economic storm in farm country to address, and the ongoing harm of a trade war to alleviate, not to mention the range of unforeseen issues that will test the mettle of the people we’re here to serve," said Peterson in a statement over the weekend.
China buys 96.6 million bushels of U.S. soybeans in a week
In a break from the trade war, China made its third purchase of U.S. soybeans in a week, said the USDA on Wednesday. The purchases followed a meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires that Trump said would result in significant exports to China.
China takes a nibble of U.S. soybeans, but not enough to reassure growers
China made its first major purchase of U.S. soybeans since Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed two weeks ago to try to settle the Sino-U.S. trade dispute, said the USDA on Thursday. The purchase, however, was too small to convince growers that China will return to its role as the biggest customer for U.S. soy exports.
USDA expects to set tariff payment rates this month
The USDA anticipates it will announce payment rates before the end of this year for the second round of Trump tariff payments, said an agency spokesperson on Wednesday. The news followed a published report that the White House was delaying the payments.
Trade war side effect: Smallest ag trade surplus in 12 years
Although ag exports are consistently larger than ag imports, that trade surplus is forecast to narrow to $14.5 billion in fiscal 2019, which would be the smallest surplus since the $12.2 billion of 2007, say USDA economists.
White House expects immediate action by China on ag trade
Taking a "show me" stance, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Monday he expected China to roll back tariffs on U.S. farm exports promptly and begin trade reforms in line with the trade deal struck by President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The White House said over the weekend that China will make "very substantial" purchases of agricultural, energy and industrial goods but analysts saw no firm commitments in the statement.
U.S. ag sales to China to fall by 45 percent in trade war
China, formerly the No. 1 customer for U.S. ag exports, will buy a comparatively paltry $9 billion worth of those exports this fiscal year, a startling 45 percent cutback due to the trade war, said the USDA on Thursday.
Trump tariff payments flow to cities as well as rural mailboxes
More than 1,100 of the early recipients of Trump tariff payments intended to offset the impact of the trade war on U.S. agriculture actually live in America’s largest cities, said the Environmental Working Group on Monday. The bailout recipients are the latest “city slickers” identified by the EWG for collecting federal subsidies without living or working on a farm. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Trade war battering farm income
Across the Farm Belt, ag bankers forecast a continued decline in farm income as winter arrives, reported four regional Federal Reserve banks on Thursday. Low commodity prices worry farm lenders, and a Minnesota banker said that the “trade war needs to be resolved to provide stability for customers.”
Smallest U.S. soy exports in four years as trade war reshapes world market
Forced by the trade war, China, the world’s largest soybean importer, and the United States, the largest grower, are on the prowl for new soybean trading partners, though neither will fully replace the other soon, said the USDA on Thursday.
Trump’s trade war knocks soybeans out of running for top U.S. crop for a decade
The neck-and-neck race between soybeans and corn for the title of No. 1 U.S. crop is over after one lap, with corn the victor and soybeans out of the running due to trade war with China. The USDA says corn will be the acreage king for years to come while soybeans recover slowly from the loss of sales to China, which used to buy one of every three bushels of U.S. soybeans.
Four times more tariff pain than financial gain in ‘new NAFTA’
Although President Trump declared the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement a big win for U.S. farmers, a study released on Wednesday says U.S. farm exports will fall by $1.8 billion due to retaliatory tariffs by Mexico and Canada. That would be four times larger than the gains the trade pact would produce.
Trump to send second round of tariff payments to farmers by year end
With no end in sight for the trade war, the Trump administration will begin a second, multibillion-dollar round of payments to soybean, cotton, pork, dairy, sorghum, wheat and corn producers by December, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday. The administration does not plan a 2019 bailout.
A penny a gallon is too little, dairy industry tells Perdue
Dairy farmers have lost at least $1 billion due to the trade war, so the USDA should revise its bailout plan, said the National Milk Producers Federation on Wednesday. The bailout, announced in August, allotted just $127 million — the equivalent of 1 cent per pound of milk — to dairy farmers.
Chinese ‘pullback’ from U.S. soybeans likely to persist for months
The U.S. share of the Chinese soybean market shrank during the marketing year that ended Aug. 31 and, with the trade war underway, shipments are anemic in the new sales year, says the USDA: "A large pullback in Chinese demand for U.S. soybeans appears likely to continue well into 2918/19."
Most farmers say trade war will reduce their income
These are grim times in farm country, according to a Purdue University poll: One-half of farmers say their farm's financial condition is worse than a year ago and, for the third month, more than 70 percent said the trade war will reduce their net income this year. An equally large share of farmers expect hard times for the ag economy in the year ahead, according to the Ag Economy Barometer released on Tuesday.
Big corn and soybean inventories add to sour farm economy
Already-bulging U.S. corn and soybean stockpiles are much larger than expected, said a USDA report, compounding the effects of a trade war and bumper crops on the farm economy. Farm income this year is forecast to be the lowest since 2006.