Ag exports have been sluggish recently, with nearly every ag group asking for more market access. USDA says the numbers prove a downturn.
As we’ve seen, imports have been increasing more than exports by value for a while, so that’s not a big surprise, just to see that we’ve got a nine percent increase over last year. The main driver of the slower exports in the last couple of years has been the strong dollar compared to foreign currencies, and so a lot of the places that compete with U.S. agricultural products on the global market can sell their products at a competitive price to foreign purchasers. So we have seen that downturn, though it seems to be leveling off, we’ve got a 1% increase over last year in terms of value,” said Bart Kenner.
Kenner has also been watching the numbers around bulk exports, saying they are a big part of the equation.
“Which by value make up 31% of the agricultural exports in the U.S. We see that bulk products are down by value 7% from last year, and a big part of that is the reduction of unit values, because we actually see by volume, substantial increases. Wheat is 23% higher than last year by volume, coarse grains, corn specifically, is 39% higher than last year by volume. But those categories, the wheat, which was up 23% by volume was down 2% by value from time last year. Corn, which was up 39% by volume, is only up 6% by value over this time last year from those decreased unit values.”
Ag trade will be a big focus of the incoming Trump Administration. The President-elect has already nominated his pick to be the U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer made his rounds with lawmakers several weeks ago. Senator Chuck Grassley says the two talked trade and the need for expanding market access for U.S. farmers.
