The markets will soon have a new record on ag exports, which are down around 7 percent from this time last year.
It leaves them hovering around $140 billion. The most recent forecast from May shows we could end the fiscal year at just over $180 billion. Even then, that is an 8 percent decline from last year.
Economists at USDA place the fall on competitiveness and a cooling global economy. The new forecast comes out o9n the last day of August, and the markets will be closely following the results.
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While this adjustment is substantial in percentage terms, according to David Widmar with Agricultural Economic Insights—it is part of the natural ebb and flow of the agricultural economy.
