U.S. Trade Rep Meets with Japan and Dairy Spikes due to Foreign Markets
From the Ag Information Network, I'm Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.**U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is already meeting with his counterparts from Japan and other countries, letting them know the U.S. is willing to talk about bilateral trade deals.
Shortly after signing a letter to tell Congress that the new NAFTA talks were set to begin, Lighthizer flew to Hanoi to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting of trade ministers. It was there that he sat down for separate talks with Japanese officials and more than a dozen other countries about possible deals.
**A market analyst says the recent dairy price spikes were a quick response to what was happening in foreign markets.
Commodity broker and Dairy Business Association President Mike North tells Brownfield production in Europe and Oceania didn't hit projections, causing prices to jump.
North says producers should continue to watch for significant milk price movement in the 17-dollar zone and consider options to take advantage of those higher prices.
**The ag export forecast for this fiscal year has been increased by the USDA. The fourth-quarter estimate is now 137-Billion-dollars, higher than the estimate in February by about a-Billion-dollars.
USDA chief economist Rob Johannsen says China is buying a lot of U.S. soybeans and cotton, so we are seeing an increase in our value of oilseeds going up slightly, but certainly higher than last year.
This quarterly Ag Export forecast is more than 7-Billion-dollars higher than last year's.