December 15, 2006
December 15, 2006 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says the value of U.S. agricultural exports reached an all-time one-month, high of $6.9 billion in October. This is up $1.6 billion over September. For the first 10 months of calendar year 2006, exports are at $57.6 billion, about 12-percent higher than the first 10 months of calendar year 2005.
USDA says most of the increase comes from bulk products as soybean exports normally surge in the fall.
"In fact, soybean shipments to China grew from about 500,000 metric tons in September to over 2.2 million metric tons in October. High-value products also increased about 11-percent above this time last year," they add.
The value of U.S. agricultural imports rose roughly 12 percent from September to October, to nearly $6 billion. Year-to-date imports are $54 billion, roughly $5 billion higher than the first 10 months of calendar year 2005. Most of the increase comes from fruit, vegetable and vegetable oil imports, although there were continued increases in wine, malt beverages, sugar and rubber.
<< Back