The value of the U.S. dollar has weakened substantially over the past year, which made several ag products more competitive on the global scale.
However, not all commodities see the same benefits.
The dollar is still relatively strong compared to other wheat-producing nations like Russia and Ukraine, but a CoBank economist says that dairy in specific, has seen a boost.
According to CoBank’s Tanner Ehmke, “What that means then is that we’re going to have a currency advantage compared to the Europeans when we’re talking about exporting cheese, non-fat dry milk, butter, those kinds of products. The same thing with New Zealand. The New Zealand dollar, or the kiwi, is expected to be stronger in the year ahead and that’s going to give us a currency advantage in some very important markets and emerging markets in South East Asia.”
Several economists predict that the dollar will weaken more this year, but CoBank says that if global economic growth slows down, the dollar could see some strength.