USDA forecasts $133b in ag exports for FY 2017

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the nation’s agricultural trade surplus is also expected to increase to $19.5 billion for fiscal year 2017, up 40 percent from $13.9 billion for fiscal year 2016.    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has projected $133 billion in total agricultural exports for fiscal year 2017, up $6 billion from the last forecast.
   If this forecast is realized, it will be the sixth highest total for U.S. agricultural exports on record.
   The United States’ agricultural trade surplus is also expected to increase to $19.5 billion, up 40 percent from $13.9 billion in fiscal year 2016. The United States has continued to post an agricultural trade surplus since record keeping began in the 1960s, according to the USDA.
   “The projected growth in exports in 2017 is led by increases in overseas sales of U.S. oilseeds and products, horticultural goods, cotton, livestock, dairy and poultry. And with a rise in global economic growth, global beef demand is expected to strengthen,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement.
   U.S. beef exports, in particular, are expected to reach $5.3 billion in 2017, well above the $1.5 billion exported in fiscal year 2004 when many countries had stopped importing U.S. beef products due to the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or “mad cow” disease scare. Most of these countries have since ended their bans on U.S. beef.
   “China is projected to return as the United States’ top export market in 2017, surpassing Canada as the number one destination for U.S. agricultural goods,” Vilsack said.
   USDA revised its fiscal year 2016 agricultural exports forecast to $127 billion, up $2.5 billion from the previous forecast.