The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) is back from its trade mission to South Korea, led by USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Ag Affairs Alexis Taylor. She shared how American agriculture was on display overseas.
“Our exporters and businesses that we had with us conducted 616 meetings with potential importers and buyers looking to expand the variety of U.S. food and agricultural products that they’re offering to Korean consumers and those participating companies reported 67 million in projected 12-month sales from those meetings.”
Alexis Taylor, USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Ag Affairs
On a recent media call, Taylor elaborated on the strength and growing diversity of South Korea’s ag export market.
“Exports of U.S. food and agricultural products to [South] Korea were just over $8 billion last year in 2023, really built upon the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, but also a really strong and strategic bilateral relationship that we have. That’s $8 billion of U.S. food and ag exports. [It] made Korea our fifth largest single-country export market.”
Alexis Taylor, USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Ag Affairs
The top five U.S. ag exports to South Korea were beef, pork, seafood, wheat, and dried distillers grain.
Related Stories
USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg joined us with a recap of the Malaysia trade mission and a look at USDA’s broader trade strategy moving forward.
Mike Steenhoek of the Soy Transportation Coalition shares how extreme winter weather is affecting the ag transportation network and what producers should keep in mind as conditions slowly improve.
Mixed product pricing and rising milk supplies suggest margin management will remain critical as 2026 unfolds.
Corn and soybean exports continue to anchor weekly inspection totals, with China maintaining a visible role, while wheat and sorghum remain more dependent on regional and seasonal demand shifts.
Rail continues to carry a larger share of the grain load, increasing sensitivity to rail capacity, labor, and pricing conditions.
Rising import pressure and tougher export competition are likely to persist into 2026, supporting domestic supplies while capping export growth.
