05/14/08 Record setting year for ag exports

March was the biggest export month in US history following on the heels of the first month that ag exports topped the ten billion dollar mark. Put it all together as USDA economist Nora Brooks did and you have record exports for the first half of any fiscal year. BROOKS "Total export value for the first half of '08 is 58.4 billion which is 45 percent above the first half of fiscal 2007." Corn, soybeans and sorghum exports are up but wheat has some remarkable numbers. BROOKS "Wheat export values are almost six billion dollars for the first six months of this year compared to 2.4 billion dollars last year and in fact the volume is up 42 percent to 17 million metric tons." Brooks says a lot of the increase is due to higher commodity prices but that's not the entire story. BROOKS "We have also had production shortfalls in the major producing areas for wheat and corn and then there's also the biofuels demand for corn and for soybeans." She says the USDA forecast of 101 billion dollars in ag exports this fiscal year is going to have to be revised later this month since we're at 58.5 billion at the halfway mark. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott