Farm Trade Surplus Blooms

August 30, 2001

The U.S. agricultural trade surplus for the first nine months of this year swelled to $11.1 billion, $2.2 billion more than the same period last year, according to the latest USDA agricultural trade update. USDA's Economic Research Service reports that for the first nine months of fiscal 2001, exports ($40.7 billion) increased nearly $2 billion due to shipments of high-value products (HVPs), while imports ($29.6 billion) declined by $240 million, largely due to declining coffee prices.

Fiscal year-to-date U.S. exports of HVPs increased $2 billion from last year, reaching $27 billion. Among the products whose sales increased significantly are hides and skins (up $400 million), feeds and fodders (up $280 million), and fruits and juices (up $177million).

In value and volume, bulk commodity exports were down from last year due to much smaller sales of corn and rice. Even so, bulk commodity exports declined only $32 million from the same period in 2000.

Although import volume of coffee was down only 16%, import value was down 41% or almost $1 billion. The import values of other tropical products -- cocoa, rubber, and cashew nuts -- declined as well but were countered to some extent by increased U.S. demand for vegetables, live farm animals, red meat, and malt beverages.

The U.S. trade update is available on the ERS website at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/so/view.asp?f=trade/fau-bb/.

USDA's first outlook on U.S. agricultural trade for fiscal 2002 will be released Friday at 3 p.m. (EDT). For this and for more information on U.S. agricultural trade, visit ERS's U.S. agricultural trade briefing room at http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/AgTrade/.