The USDA released its Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade report on May 29.
The report projects that fiscal year 2014 agricultural exports will reach $149.5 billion, an estimated $6.9 billion higher than previous estimates and, if realized, a new record for American agricultural exports. The report indicates that the record growth is due not just to rising prices, which have driven export numbers in the past, but also to an increase in the volume of U.S. agricultural exports, which is projected to increase by 31 percent between fiscal years 2013 and 2014.
In fiscal year 2013 agricultural exports reached $140.9 billion and supported nearly one million jobs here at home. Fiscal years 2009 to 2013 represent the strongest five years in history for agricultural trade, with U.S. agricultural product exports totaling $619 billion over those five years.
Agriculture remains one of the few economic sectors with more exports than imports. The U.S. is expected to import $110 billion in agricultural products in 2014, leaving a trade surplus of $39 billion.
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