Agribusiness Update for Tuesday 12/31/13

Despite a 4.2-million dollar second quarter loss - Agri-Pulse reports Smithfield Foods Larry Pope says the base business is fine. Pope says the numbers involved in the loss are a bit messy - and he believes this should be put aside until the beginning of 2014 when numbers become clearer and easier to understand.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul says Russia's ban on U.S. pork and beef products due to fears about ractopamine has cost the U.S. 5 to 6-billion dollars since that time. McFaul says he will personally continue to work with Russia to get Moscow to remove this ban on U.S. meat imports. Close to two-dozen countries have approved ractopamine as safe to use - but several other countries - including the EU, China and Taiwan - have joined Russia on banning its use.

USDA is inviting the public to comment on proposed changes to the Export Credit Guarantee Program - GSM-102. This program provides credit guarantees to encourage financing of commercial exports of U.S. ag products to developing countries - while also providing competitive credit terms in those countries.

That's today's Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network.