U.S. Agricultural Trade

 This page provides information on:  

• Periodic and scheduled ERS publications and data on U.S. agricultural trade 
• Recent ERS publications related to U.S. agricultural Trade

Global economic conditions drive demand for food and agricultural products, providing the foundation for U.S. agricultural trade. Therefore, the composition and pattern of U.S. agricultural exports and imports shift to reflect changes in trade policies, world population and income, and economic growth. Other factors affecting U.S. agricultural trade include global supplies and prices, changes in exchange rates, and government support for agriculture. For an overview of U.S. agricultural trade, see U.S Agricultural Trade at a Glance.

ERS provides a range of data products and reports covering U.S. agricultural trade and factors affecting trade flows. 

Periodic, Scheduled Outputs

• Foreign Agricultural Trade of the United States (FATUS), a USDA aggregation of data that provide information on U.S. agricultural exports and imports, volume, and value by country and by commodity. Updated monthly or annually.
• The Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade, forecasts U.S. agricultural exports and imports for the upcoming fiscal year, by country and sector. The Outlook is also summarized online in the corresponding long form content piece. An Interactive summary and highlights of the most recent Outlook are available here.
• State Exports Data provide annual estimates of annual U.S. agricultural export values by State and commodity.
• Agricultural Trade Multipliers provide estimates of employment and/or output effects of trade in farm and food products on the U.S. economy. These effects, when expressed as multipliers, reflect the amount of economic activity and/or jobs generated by agricultural exports.
• USDA Agricultural Projections, released in February each year and provide USDA's 10-year projections for the food and agriculture sector including expected U.S. agricultural trade by commodity group.
• U.S. Export Share of Production, Import Share of Consumption (2008-2014) data include the share of U.S. agricultural production, by value, sold outside the country, and the share of imports in total domestic food consumption by value.
• U.S. Food Imports, a dataset that provides import values of edible products (food and beverages) entering U.S. ports and their origin of shipment. Food and beverage import values are compiled by calendar year into food groups corresponding to major commodities or level of processing.

Recent ERS Reports Relating to U.S. Agricultural Trade 

In addition to the periodic Outlook report and data products, ERS produces reports analyzing trade to a particular country or region and key factors affecting trade flows.

Recent ERS reports relating to U.S. agricultural trade include:

• Opportunities for Making U.S.-Mexico Agricultural Trade More Agile To explore ways of facilitating border crossing and inspection for U.S.-Mexico agricultural trade, an ERS research team conducted about 80 interviews with experts from the private sector, government, and academia from both countries. ( EIB-160, August 2016)
• The Global Landscape of Agricultural Trade, 1995-2014 This report surveys 20 years (1995-2014) of trends in world agricultural trade and summarizes key policy issues that will confront decision makers and shape agricultural trade in the coming years. (EIB-181, November 2017)
• Tariff Reforms and the Competitiveness of U.S. Beef in Japan Japan is one of the largest beef importing countries in the world and an important destination market for the United States. This report examines how Japanese importers view U.S. beef vis-a-vis imports from Australia and other countries, how imports differ across beef products, and how market access reform might affect Japanese beef imports. (LDPM-259-01, January 2016)
• Global Macroeconomic Developments Drive Downturn in U.S. Agricultural Exports The macroeconomic outlook underlying the 2016 USDA agricultural projections indicates a slowdown in global income growth and a stronger dollar, implying smaller projected gains in agricultural trade and declines in U.S. market share. (AES-94, July 2016)
• Poultry Production and Trade in the Republic of South Africa: a Look at Alternative Trade Policy Scenarios In 2015, South Africa changed a 15-year policy that effectively blocked all poultry imports from the United States and allowed a quota of 65,000 tons of U.S. poultry at a tariff rate of 37 percent. ERS used the 2016 baseline model to analyze the impact of this change. Findings suggest that longrun impacts on the South African poultry industry will be minimal.(AES-96, November 2016)
• Estimating the Effects of Selected Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade on U.S.-EU Agricultural Trade The report found that non-tariff measures, such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade, are significant impediments to agriculture trade in selected commodities between the United States and the European Union. (ERR-199, November 2015)
• Brazil's Corn Industry and the Effect on the Seasonal Pattern of U.S. Corn Exports Brazil has emerged as the largest U.S. competitor in the global corn market with second-crop corn, harvested late in the local marketing year, boosting exports from September to January. A change in export seasonality could alter the seasonality of U.S. corn prices, further weakening corn prices at harvest and eroding U.S. export market share. (AES-93, June 2016)
• U.S.-Cuba Agricultural Trade: Past, Present and Possible Future Establishing more normal economic relations with Cuba could potentially generate growth in U.S.-Cuba trade, foster greater productivity in Cuba's economy, and stimulate exports of meat, dairy products, rice, and other commodities to Cuba. (AES-87, June 2015)
• China's Growing Demand for Agricultural Imports China’s most prominent agricultural imports are land-intensive products such as oilseeds, oils, and cotton, and the United States has become the leading supplier of China's agricultural imports. (EIB-136, February 2015)