China, the world’s largest importer of cotton and soybeans, has topped Canada to become the No. 1 market for U.S. farm exports for the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday.
U.S. exporters sold $20 billion in agricultural products to China during the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, according to a newly completed tally (all figures US$). It was the first time China was the top market for an entire fiscal year.
USDA has forecast sales to China and Canada of $19 billion apiece this fiscal year.
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was scheduled to visit Vietnam and China next week with the goal of removing barriers to U.S. goods.
The world’s most populous nation and a dynamic economy, China shot to prominence as a U.S. farm export market in a few years. In 2004, it was the No. 5 buyer with $6 billion in purchases.
In the past year, China gained attention as a potentially large consumer of U.S. corn. It bought 900,000 tonnes of U.S. corn in mid-October and is believed to be the unidentified buyer of 1.25 million tonnes in March. China is the second-largest corn grower in the world behind the U.S., the largest exporter.
Overall, U.S. farm exports were a record $137.4 billion in fiscal 2011 and were forecast for $137 billion in fiscal 2012, which opened on Oct. 1. Leading customers, besides China and Canada, are Mexico, Japan, the European Union and South Korea.
